Chapter Two

Director Hielberg had come to Japan for one reason and one reason only – he was in debt. Yes, he was in the unfortunate position of being indebted to one extremely eccentric, weird, cosplaying, cupid-worshipping, fool of a president. It was this very president who had requested, in a determined and serious manner, (well, as serious as you can be while wearing a Mickey Mouse costume and sitting in front of a widescreen plasma TV with a certain love simulation game paused), that he direct an adaptation of the manga Jump Note.

"…which is a stupid affair, where the characters deny their own and each other's feelings for no good reason. I don't understand why the Japanese are so seemingly pure about first kisses and addressing people informally. And Lory...Lory's even worse than the female characters in this blasted thing." He spluttered angrily to his personal assistant, hitting the script in his hands as they walked down the corridor.

Tina, his assistant, said nothing, she knew it was the best policy when it came to her boss. The attractive woman in her late twenties with short blonde hair sighed internally; she had spent the last four years with Director Hielberg and knew his ticks all too well. She could see his point about Lory, after her first meeting with him dressed as a lion tamer-with a real lion-she didn't think he was normal either. But she couldn't with Hielberg's opinion that Jump Note was without potential, when it really could be something quite brilliant if he bothered to appreciate it. Unfortunately, Tina suspected that this wasn't going to happen soon, and resigned herself to the thought that he was going to do a poor job of everything and be overtly cruel to all the actors-especially those auditioning from Lory's company-just to vent steam.

With nothing left to distract him from the job at hand, she showed him into the full audition hall, which became silent upon their entrance. One of the department managers introduced him and Tina took her seat at the back of the hall, behind and to the left of her boss. She took the opportunity to watch the crowd, many of whom stared at the Director in awe. A particular group caught her eye; it consisted of two men in their twenties and two older teenage girls. One of the girls was typically pretty, tall, thin, long black hair, aesthetically...she could play Cara.

Although...Tina reasoned, her beauty is amplified by the fact that the girl closest to her isn't particularly attractive. Looking at the smaller of the two girls Tina changed her statement, being the kind of person that always tried to see past the outer appearance to the personality within, regardless of the Hollywood elite she often dealt with. It's not that she doesn't have appeal...it's just that she seems to be more cute than attractive; the type that might still believe in Santa. Looks-wise she would, Tina reckoned, be well suited playing Cara's bumbling friend, or the cousin that Ben rescued from self-loathing.

Having characterised the girls, her attention was then drawn to the men. In just a glance she recognised that only one of them was an actor, the other she realised must be his manager, the slightly shorter of the men poured over the other's work schedule and glanced at his watch every now and then. As a fellow worker, Tina found herself strangely drawn to him, amused by the presence of the gloves poking out of his suit pocket, curious as to their purpose. She then turned her eyes to the actor beside him and, taking in his appearance, she-like every woman before her-became highly impressed with his looks. Noticing his height, she vaguely remembered a conversation she'd had with a Japanese woman earlier-in order to improve her command of the language-regarding an extremely tall, handsome and exceptional actor... She smiled a weak smile. He better be as good as they say...if he's to give Director Hielberg the motivation he needs...

-x-

Director Henry Hielberg was bored; he didn't want to be in Japan or be doing anything related to this film-except maybe sneer at Lory's strange obsessions. When people are bored they can either find something to amuse themselves with, or become annoyed. Unfortunately, Hielberg always chose the latter, and when he did, every little thing started to irritate him. You name it, he was complaining about it. The room was too hot, too crowded. The people were too friendly, too shy. The water tasted strange, nobody laughed at his one good Japanese joke...It was maddening. Lacking a sufficient distraction, he retreated further into his bad mood and decided to make everyone feel as miserable as he was. Standing tall, he addressed the crowd in English-just to rub them up the wrong way.

"You should all have memorised the scripts you were given, so I expect no mess ups. If anyone hasn't memorised the script, they can leave now."

He stared pointedly at all of them.

No one moved. Some couldn't understand English, while others were too frightened or ashamed to admit that he was right. Hielberg took gratification in the fear he inspired in practically all of their faces.

You forced me to do this film Lory...and I'm going to make you-and your actors-pay for it.

"We are going to start from the beginning of the film and you will play your character until I say otherwise. Whether that's one second or the entire audition time is not my problem. Those not performing will stay on the sides, ready to step in when the other person performing the character you are auditioning for fails. Now, get into the groups for the characters you're auditioning for."

To say that those who were taking part in the audition were perturbed or anxious would be a very large understatement, equal possibly to saying that Hizuri Kuu had a 'moderate' appetite. At the end of Director Hielberg's speech, some people did just leave the room. The others did as they were told, silently and quickly moving into their groups, not wishing to damage their chances by speaking out of turn. At the back of the hall Tina started massaging her head to try and get rid of the headache caused by her mounting tension.

Well, this is going to be fun. She thought sarcastically.

-x-

Kyoko was panicking now-seriously panicking. She'd understood every word Director Hielberg had said and she was nervous. Her nerves were made all the worse by the fact that none of the other actresses who were trying out for Sarah had decided to stay, not when they saw the competition. In the grand scheme of things, Kyoko should've taken this as a compliment to her ability-that the other actresses didn't feel confident enough to go against her-but their absence just made her concerned, not flattered. In fact, some of them had even whispered, 'if Kyoko can't do it then we don't stand a chance', a touching sentiment but one filled with an enormous amount of pressure. As a result of this bizarre turn of events, she now had no other choice but to stay as Sarah for the whole of the audition process, whether Director Hielberg approved of her or not. And she was pretty sure he'd get vocal if he didn't. She gulped, wondering whether it was possible to be more afraid of him than she was of Ren after she'd changed her hairstyle for Mio. Desperately wishing she'd brought Corn with her, she tried to calm herself.

-x-

From the other side of the room, Ren watched Kyoko in concern, spotting the lack of Sarah candidates and her troubled face. Unlike her, many people were auditioning for his role-Ben-and they were all to perform before him, secretly hoping that if they performed well enough he wouldn't have the chance to audition; unwittingly giving him the perfect opportunity to shape himself into the kind of Ben Hielberg wanted. But Kyoko... He fought the urge to go over there and hold her until all her fears vanished. He wanted to give her the peace of mind and happiness she'd managed to give him just a few moments ago. Hell, I just want to see her smile at me. I'm really that simple.

To be told he was different from his father had made him feel so free...Although he'd said it himself to Director Ogata before, to be told by someone else, by her, who worships the ground her 'Otou-san' walks on, felt so…good. Thinking back to that moment he couldn't stop his mood from dropping slightly. In his desperation to hear what she'd thought, not only had he called Hizuri Kuu, 'Otou-san' accidentally, he'd also called her 'Kyoko'. Two mistakes in one go...I should be surprised she hasn't been startled into a corner like a woodland animal by now...

Despite these slight misgivings, Ren couldn't stop the feeling of unwavering happiness deep down inside, his joy at her belief in him. He'd wanted nothing more at that moment than to confess that he was Corn and fly away with her somewhere-take her in his arms and…and what, tell her you want to marry her? She's still a LoveMe girl for a reason. And do you really want to ruin one of the few memories from her past that cheers her up when she's sad? Ren stared at Kyoko for so long that she actually noticed, regardless of her worries, and looked over at him. He caught her eye and smiled, desperately wanting her to smile back. When she did...he felt like he could do anything.

-x-

Director Hielberg got everyone's attention by banging his mug against the table-not that it was needed-and the room turned deathly quiet.

"Beginners..." was all he said, before sitting down, thoroughly bored already.

The first scene seemed to take an age and was an extremely uncomfortable experience for all the actors. Hielberg stopped it frequently, speaking harsh words to all those 'onstage' without a second thought. One woman auditioning for Cara actually burst into tears and ran out of the room. Finally, scene one was over and almost half of the actors auditioning for the roles of Ben and Cara had gone. The second scene required Sarah, so Kyoko breathed in, let go of herself, and slipped into a whole new person.

The scene began.

Sarah sashayed into the dressing room alongside her manager, (a stand in from Hielberg's entourage as the character was too minor for this set of auditions) and sat down, lazily yet seductively. She looked her manager up and down in appreciation, remembering the way he'd looked earlier that morning in bed. She glanced at her phone and noticed a voice message. She put it on speaker so she could start packing her things for the night.

"Sarah, I'm sorry for what I said last night, but I didn't mean it that way…What I want to say Sarah, is that you're incredible...and I understand that...even if others are too blind to see it. You're number one for…"

She scoffed and cut off the message before putting her mobile into her bag and settling herself down into the arms of her manager.

"Honestly...he says all that like his opinion matters," she laughed.

"He's spent the last two years working god knows how many jobs to support you. Shouldn't you lay off him a bit?" her manager replied.

Smiling at his naivety, Sarah explained the situation, her remorse non existent.

"Are you suggesting that I, who was raised sheltered and privileged, should come to Tokyo on my own with no one to support me?" she asked.

"It sounds like you brought him here for financial support rather than moral."

Her manager still didn't sound convinced. Sighing with annoyance at having to ruin her mood by talking about her unattractive-but convenient-childhood friend, Sarah said, exasperatedly, "There's no 'like' about it. It's always been that way ever since we were kids. He's my butler…"

"CUT!"

Kyoko froze. Oh no...I've failed, haven't I? I won't be able to work with Moko-san and Re…Tsuruga-san again after all...

"You, boy. Whatever-your-name-is, playing Ben. What kind of facial expression is that? She's basically saying you're nothing after you've spent your whole life worshipping the ground she walks on-and that's the best expression you can give me?"

Kyoko looked at the offending facial expression, now frozen on the poor actor's face from fear of Hielberg's wrath. Sure, he looked upset, but his face had none of the shock or devastation she'd felt when Sho...Baka, baka, baka! she thought, mentally slapping herself, don't think of him right now! Do you want to ruin everything? She peered over at Director Hielberg, who was still berating the young actor playing Ben, and watched as he threw his hands up in frustration.

"Useless. Next Ben!"

Hielberg returned to the papers on his desk without saying a word to Kyoko. Taking this as some form of encouragement, she slipped back into Sarah. She began the scene again but wasn't stopped this time, suggesting that whoever was playing the new Ben had managed an expression worthy of the almighty director. Kyoko continued her onstage rant.

"...he's my butler-he's never denied any of my requests, or complained-ever. If he had, I would never have brought him."

Her manager looked at her pointedly, a look she ignored, and continued his own train of thought.

"Now you've made it big, you should let him go and live his own life now."

"Fine," was her reply, but it had been half-hearted. An idea flitted across her mind and she turned to give him her full attention, a lustful smile on her lips, "I'll let him go...but you'll have to make sure I'm well cared for."

"You make it sound like I don't already."

"Well, you're my type-unlike him." She spat out the word 'him' out in disgust, "Honestly, if I hadn't come to Tokyo my parents would've probably forced me to marry that ugly, boring man and take over the restaurant. And I don't want to marry a boy, I just want a man." She pouted seductively and leaned in closer to her manager to claim his lips.

There was a smash as a vase came flying in her direction, spilling flowers as it hit the wall by her head. Alarmed, Sarah broke away from her manager and turned around, her eyes widening upon seeing the figure at the door. Overworked and tired, a scruffy young man stood before her, his expression of utmost betrayal. He looked as though his heart had been torn from his chest and stomped on too many times to count.

"Ben!" Sarah exclaimed, shocked but not the least bit guilty about what she'd done.

"You brought me here, despite thinking I'm ugly and boring, because it was convenient to you?"

Sarah just stared at him, all the words she had to say already said. Ben turned his back on her, shoulders shaking. The gesture alarmed her a little, but she was quick to hide it under her thick, narcissistic armour.

"You're not going to cry on me are you?" she asked, "That's too pathetic."

Ben was looking down-hiccups escaping him-when suddenly he gasped for breath and took hold of himself. A stream of sarcastic yet hurt laughter escaped from him as he stood up straight. Kyoko-threatening to slip out of character-felt her eyes widen as she saw mini-demon Ren's swarm around Ben and hurl themselves towards her.

"I'll get revenge for this...Sunflower."

Sarah bristled at the use of her real name for a moment before looking down, derisively at him.

"You, get revenge on me? How? You can't touch me."

As if to prove her point, security guards appeared in the doorway and restrained Ben, dragging him away. "From now on, I'm going to rise higher than anyone in this business. Higher than Cara-higher than all of them! I'll climb until I'm far, far higher than an ugly, boring person like you could even think of reaching," she screamed after him, "If you really want revenge on me-make it in showbiz. Though we both know how impossible that is for someone like you."

She turned sharply on her heel and walked away from her childhood friend, content.

-x-

Tina stared at Kyoko, then Ren, then Hielberg. Wow. She'd heard that the male actor was good but she'd never expected that. As for the girl, Kyoko...wow. Tina's usual eloquence failed her she was so much in awe. Even though the scene was over, Kyoko was still in character, lounging against the wall looking like a bratty pampered model. Tina had always been impressed by method actors, but she'd never seen such a young actress so devoted to her craft. She turned her attention back to Hielberg, noticing that, from nowhere, he'd produced a large notepad and was scribbling frantically across it in his large illegible handwriting. She gave a small smile of victory. Hielberg is on.

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Arigator you to everybody who has read my story, especially those who've reviewed. For this chapter I've tried to work on my punctuation and grammar which as some of you rightly pointed out was poor in the last chapter. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my friend Caroline who gave this chapter a second set of eyes. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as well and I'd love to hear from you. :)