A/N: I do not own The Pillow Book.
Chapter 3 – The movie
Kyoko was filming most of the day at Box R. It had been two days since her date with Ren and everything was the same as normal. They'd talk on the phone or have a short lunch together, but both of their schedules were too conflicting to pursue anything else. Tomorrow would be one of those short lunches, but today she was on her own. Since the kiss and being more affectionate didn't work, she had to think of something else to do.
She looked for the other actresses of Box R. Rumi, Honami, Chiori, and Yuka all sat together and had already started eating.
Kyoko walked up with her bento in hand, interrupting their conversation, "May I join you?"
"Of course, Kyoko-chan," Rumi, the actress who played the protagonist of Box R said cheerily. Kyoko sat down and they continued their conversation.
"It was so shocking," Yuka said. "I got so upset when he took me to that movie but really, it was kind of fun to watch." She giggled and blushed.
"So you watched it with him?" Honami asked.
Yuka nodded. "I told him to warn me next time- all that nudity and such- it was embarrassing."
Kyoko perked up at this. "What were you watching?"
"A new movie that came out, The Pillow Book. My boyfriend took me to it telling me it was a drama, and that I'd like it. The whole move was about sex," she whispered the word. "I think I was blushing the whole time." Yuka was blushing now recounting it.
"And you liked it?" Kyoko asked.
"Well, it had some odd parts to it, slow at times but in general it was interesting. It's about a girl who thinks calligraphy is sexy and likes having it painted on her body. Like I said, there is a lot of nudity, men and women. Well this girl's dad is a writer but doesn't get very far so when he dies, she wants to take over and write and she uses the whole naked writing thing to get published."
"I could never watch a movie like that," Rumi spoke shyly.
"It actually sounds interesting. Too bad I don't have a boyfriend." Honami laughed as did the other girls.
"Imagine doing the female lead for it." This time it was Chiori who spoke up. Every single one of them turned beet red.
"No way! I'll stick to torturing people," Yuka said and everyone agreed. The conversation took a turn for the less embarrassing, on to more general girl chat.
The next few days flew by and Kyoko had forgotten about the discussion until Ren and she stood outside the movie theater hand in hand looking at what to watch. They'd gone to a small theater that generally didn't have a crowd, plus it was around 5 on a Tuesday. Most people wouldn't be going out to watch a movie after a long day at work.
"Anything look interesting?" He asked, his fingers entwined with hers. She looked at the four possible movies. There were two action movies and a slap stick comedy and then… that movie, the movie Yuka had been talking about. She looked over at him. It was a casual date so he work a light blue polo shirt, untucked over a pair of black jeans and sneakers. He also wore his cap and sunglasses.
Kyoko squeezed his hand lightly, her eyes flickering to the picture of a man and woman together in a tub. Even the poster was suggestive. Could she really watch this movie with him? Her free hand played with the tie of her dress, a dark brown cotton shirt style. It was sleeveless with a wide notched collar, studded-snaps going up the middle with wide belt loops to secure a belt that tied at her waist. She wore three inch wedge chocolate sandals with a few straps around her toes and two that buckled the shoe on in the back.
She should pick the comedy or at least the action flick they hadn't seen, the other they'd seen last week. But this was a chance right? If she could get him to think about it, then maybe it would prompt it.
She bit her lip. "That one."
Ren looked at her, but she couldn't see his expression with his glasses. "Are you sure? That looks…" He fumbled for the right words, "Different than our normal ones."
"Yuka-san liked it, and she watched it with her boyfriend." Kyoko watch Ren hesitate.
"We can watch something else if you prefer?" she offered a little disapointed.
He smiled a closed lip smile and replied, "No, it's ok. If you want to see it, we can."
They walked over and bought the tickets. As per their norm, both got waters but nothing else since they usually ate before or after the movie. The theater was mostly empty. There were two other couples waiting for the film, quietly talking among themselves.
They sat in the back, mostly out of habit. She sat down and could feel her heart drumming in her chest. This was a mistake. How could she watch this? A sound was whispered beside her, and she realized Ren was talking.
"I'm sorry. What did you say?" She asked. He took off his hat and shades, tucking them away. She hated when he had to hide himself, it was such a shame.
"You said, Sudo-san saw this. What is it about?" he asked again. Kyoko's mind was racing, what could she say about the movie? Should she warn him about the sex? No, he may want to leave.
"It's about a girl who loves calligraphy and writing. Her father was a writer, and he dies so she follows in his footsteps and uses creative ways to get published," Kyoko explained and wanted to kick herself. How could she not tell him the majority of the movie is about sex and her "love" of the calligraphy was so much more erotic than the love Kyoko has for acting.
"The poster is kind of misleading then," he said and Kyoko felt guilty. She should tell him.
"Well, it focuses a lot on her love life. The man in it is the love interest that helps her." There. That was a good explanation, right? She did say it focused on her love life… sex is love, right? Plus she did say a lot.
"Hmm."
Kyoko felt like her heart was going to burst the moment the lights went out. The movie started out slow, with her father and her growing up. By the time the first nude scene came up, she had calmed down but everything came back rather quickly.
Her forearm was lying on top of his and their fingers entwined as they watched. That normally wouldn't last long. She would get so wrapped up into the movies they watched, she would usually lose their connection. However, as this movie continued she kept the contact with Ren.
She looked up at him once the first erotic scene came on, his eyes were glued to the screen and he was very still. Perhaps this was a bad idea. She turned her eyes back to the screen and blushed. The movie enjoyed showing a lot of detail when she was being written on and they liked writing on some of the more private parts.
She looked at the actress's body and then thought of her own and became really discouraged. Kyoko thought the actress was so much prettier, sexier. What if Ren watched this and then looked at his plain Jane girlfriend and got turned off? She let go of his hand, and he adjusted in his seat.
It progressed and the male lead was introduced. Here Kyoko had to turn away as they filmed him completely. The first time seeing a man naked, and it was on film. Yet as the film went on, the foreplay between the two actors was hard to ignore. She found her attention focused on the screen. Soon she found herself clinging to Ren's arm, her heart racing, her breathing heavy. The music wasn't helping either. It was so sensual, making her think of the man next to her.
Granted he was shifting in his seat a lot, clearly uncomfortable with the movie. She looked at him and saw him leaning away from her, but he was too large a person to completely do so. His frame still allowed her access to his arm. He shifted again. She sighed. This wasn't working either. Once again, she was getting turned on, and Ren was still as stone and looking very emotionless, bored even.
She let herself lean against his arm, placing her head on his shoulder and her arm slipped down to his hand again. She felt him shudder slightly as she did this. She looked up at him and whispered, "You ok?"
He didn't say anything, just nodded and waved the question off with his other hand. One thing that Yuka didn't mention was the ending. It was DISGUSTING. The whole movie was this sensual erotic display and then it ended in the most horrible way. The main love interest kills himself after the heroine gets jealous and turns him away. Then his lover steals his body and skins him for the story written on there as a "souvenir." As soon as the lights went up and they quickly left.
"That was gross," was the first thing she said. If Kyoko was turned on before, she wasn't anymore. They got into Ren's car and took off.
"It was interesting up until that point. Why would anyone do that to someone they love? Keep a picture, not…not… That!"
Ren finally spoke, "That was disturbing, but the chemistry on screen with the two actors was very good."
She understood what he was talking about and one scene in particular. There was a long scene that focused on the developing relationship of the two characters that was very, very exciting to watch with the alluring French song. It really captured the feelings of the two actors very well. She wondered if she could express those types of feelings on film as they did?
"Did you want to eat?" He offered, and she groaned.
She was going to offer to cook something at his place. After the "sexy" film the watched, she figured it was going to be her chance but after that ending, she didn't really know if she could eat.
"Um… I'm not sure. The last part has my skin crawling." She shuddered again.
Ren laughed. "It was an art film. Most art films have a weird plot. Sudo-san didn't mention a lot of the movie to you, did she?"
"No, she didn't," Kyoko answered. While she was thinking of the ending, Ren assumed she didn't know anything about all the sex. He smiled at his cute innocent girlfriend, took her hand and drove her home.
The next day, Kyoko was schedule to do a CM for Box R. Once she saw Yuka, she brought up the movie.
"I saw that movie you were mentioning at lunch a while ago, The Pillow Book," Kyoko told her.
Yuka gasped. "You! You saw that movie?" There was a naughty smile on her lips. "With Tsurgua-san?" she spoke with a bit of envy in her eyes.
Kyoko nodded. "You didn't mention how awful the ending was."
Yuka blushed a dark red. "Well actually, I wasn't really paying attention to the ending. I kind of got caught up in the feeling in the middle of the film and Jun and I started…."
Kyoko cut her off blushing, "I… I get it."
"What was the ending like?" Yuka asked genuinely curious.
She shuddered. "Your ending is better than the movie's, let's put it that way." She smiled and left for the shoot.
A/N: The Pillow Book is a real movie made in 1996. I read the synopsis of it and I had to use it as their movie. Granted I haven't seen it so if anyone as, and I got it something wrong please allow me to fix it. But everything on here is based off reviews and yeah the ending is really that sick.
