Love Me Days
-Chapter 4-
"Ren, okaerinasai. It's good to see you. It has been awhile." Mr. Yoshi Ishibashi greeted as Ren entered the studio room. Yoshi Ishibashi was the co-founder of Dream Together Studios along with his wife, Ryoko. Together they had branched off out of LME and were doing well. Ryoko is in charge of the business and magazine production while Yoshi does what he does best, being the ultimate authority on fashion and stylist to celebrities and fresh up-and-coming stars. He had designed several of Ren's favorite and famous looks. That was exactly why Ren had asked Yashiro to schedule an appointment with him.
"Sorry to bother you like this, but I need a new wardrobe for my latest role," Ren began shaking hands with Yoshi. Ren was several inches taller than the older man, but he never seemed to overpower him. Yoshi was strongly built but had slender muscles. He shaved his head so you couldn't actually tell he was in his early forties by looking at him and he always wears a diamond stud earring in his left ear.
"Don't be ridiculous, you know I'd never think such a thing. Now, what's this new role then?" Mr. Ishibashi asked pulling out a fabric measuring strand from his pocket.
"I'll be playing the role of Katsuki in the new Tsukigomori drama, Dark Moon."
"A teacher huh?, Well I guess you'll need suites with a little less flare than usual."
"That's why I'm here."
"Well of course."
"Hey dad, where do you want the- Oh! Sorry, didn't know you were with a client," a young woman said from the doorway. Ren turned his head at the sound of the familiar voice.
"It's alright Umi, you can come in. I doubt Mr. Tsuruga will mind." Yoshi said as he began taking Ren's measurements.
"No, not at all." Ren said softly, he tilted his head in the girl's direction and gave her a friendly smile. She didn't return it, instead she just walked into the room and flicked her bangs out of her eyes as she passed the two men.
"I got a job for Friday morning at LME, so you'll have to get Koboshi or Umegotta to help you out with the Meiou twins."
"Oh? Alright then, what's the job?" Yoshi asked curiously. Umi walked over to the sewing station near the window, Ren watched her silently out of the corner of his eyes.
"I'll be doing a photo-shoot," Umi replied picking up a soft orange cushion with pins sticking out of it.
"I gathered that," Yoshi sighed gesturing her to bring the pin cushion over to him. "For what and who with?"
"I'm taking photos for the Bridge Rock group. They have a merchandise contract and need group shots to use for them."
"Bridge Rock! Does your brother know you'll be taking photos of him?" Yoshi laughed. He tossed the measuring ribbon to his daughter and walked over to a rack of cloths full of men's suites and began looking through them.
"He will when he gets to the studio on Friday," she replied with a smirk. "Go with the hazel brown with auburn stitching." she suggested with a flick of her bangs.
"You read my mind dear. I just can't find the stupid thing." Mr. Ishibashi replied zipping the cloths down the line in his frustration.
"Your doing better with your photography then?" Ren asked her. Umi turned her head to face him. She was a foot shorter than him but like her father, she held her own and wasn't lost in the midst of his presence.
"Yes and no. My work is great but so far the only jobs I get on a regular basis are the ones for mom's magazine, dad's runway shows and various things for LME." she replied.
"Do you still do private work for models?" Ren asked her curiously.
"Found it!" Yoshi shouted aloud, though it was more to himself than the other two.
"I started with it for a reason, I enjoy it way more." Umi replied shaking her head at him in a way that said he should have known better.
"Then would you mind taking a few for me when I'm done here. The president was kind enough to inform me this morning that I need to update my portfolio."
"I'm sure he was," Umi muttered in reply hiding her laugh. She already knew that since the president had called her earlier in the day. "Sure, but just so you know I'm only saying yes because I'm bored and need something interesting to do."
Ren gave her his bright smile that has been said to melt hearts, "Of course."
She gave him a push on his arm for teasing her.
"Umi would you mind giving Mr. Tsuruga some privacy for a moment," Yoshi asked his daughter handing the suit over to Ren.
"Why it's not like I'd be seeing anything I haven't before," she replied with a wry grin.
Both Ren and Mr. Ishibashi had questioning looks on their faces as each tried to work her words out in their heads. Ren was trying to figure out why she said that and what she meant by it. His thoughts were cut off by Mr. Ishibashi.
"Is that so?" he asked tilting his head towards Ren, raising an eyebrow slightly. Ren snapped his head towards Yoshi feeling out of sorts.
"I've never done anything with Umi, surely she wasn't just making the joke for joke's sake. There has to be something else..."His thoughts trailed as he stood in front of Mr. Isshibashi, trying to come up with the right words.
"I..uh...we...didn't, haven't-"
Umi burst out into laughter. Both the men turned their heads and looked at her. She was holding her stomach, completely tickled by the current situation she had made.
"You should see the look on your face Ren! Geez you two, where were your minds, I only meant that if Ren were to change in front of me it would fine. I've seen him in his underwear before, I did his make-up for his first few photo-shoots when he came to Japan."
"Oh, that's it. Yes." Mr. Ishibashi seemed to be pleased by the answer. Ren was staring at her in disbelief.
"Why Mr. Tsuruga I think you're blushing," Umi teased running her hand through her bangs again. She looked to the window in a quick thought and then back at the men, her eyes at their feet. "You don't need to worry dad, the only person I've ever been with in that way was Ryo."
Ren quickly averted his gaze from Umi to the window. Umi's eyes darted upward. She had noticed.
"Um..I'm sorry...I guess I will leave then, let you finish up here." she said excusing herself. She turned and left the room without glancing back. Silence filled the room behind her.
"She still isn't past it then?" Ren asked a gently as he could after a moment. Yoshi sighed and held Ren's cloths as he got into the suit.
"It has been almost a year now since Ryo's death, she's got her enthusiasm for her work again, even if she has stopped modeling. Ryoko and I can still hear her crying some nights when she's alone in her room, but there's not much more that we can say to her that we haven't said to her a hundred times before. Time will heal her heart eventually, even if she doesn't believe it, we just have to be there for her till it happens."
Kyoko hadn't moved since the lights came up. She wanted to walk over and support her friend while the director reviewed their scene, but she figured it would be better to just wait till Hio and Moko were done with him to congratulate them on their success. Or rather the success she felt they had made with the scene. She was shocked when the director began speaking, he didn't seem as pleased as she had expected him to be and by the looks on their faces, so was the crew.
"We'll go with the scene now, since it seems the only thing you two can do in character long enough for a complete scene, but don't think you two can just rewrite every script you don't like. Just because a character's dialogue doesn't seem as natural as something else you think they might say doesn't make it wrong. It is up to the actors to portray their role at all times, under any given circumstance and bring the pages of script to life with the emotion of that character. If you can't understand that, than let me just say this, if you think your interpretation of your characters are the only ones that matter than you don't understand how this business works. It is not only your portrayal that brings the character to life but the situations created for them, the type of lighting used to bring them in and out of a given scene, their wardrobe, the music played during the moments of their struggles and triumphs, and words they speak. It all matters. Forget that and you are saying the rest of us can go home, leave you to do it all."
"That jerk!" Kyoko shouted, fuming as she and Kanae walked towards the elevator. Kyoko had been allowed to stay behind the set, where she had sat in a chair and sent death glares towards the director. She hadn't agreed with his lecture to Moko and Hio and wanted nothing more than to strangle him till he apologized to the two of them. "Your scene was great, he should have praised you and thanked you for fixing the problems of the scene."
"Thanks," Kanae said, pressing the button to go up. "But he did have a valid point. We were the problem with the scene to begin with, because we didn't believe the text we had to perform. And because we didn't believe it, nothing else in the scene worked so it was hard to stay in our roles long enough to actually get through the scene in the first place. Sure, what we came up with is loads better, but it wasn't an appropriate manner of changing it either. We should have waited to see what the reaction of the completed first scene was before we tried to change it."
The elevator doors opened with a soft 'ding' and the two Love Me members walked in. Kyoko was watching Kanae intently. She was impressed with her friends mature mind on the matter.
"Is that really how you feel then?" Kyoko asked. She was curious and needed to know so she didn't make any more of a big deal out of the situation if it wasn't warranted. Kanae looked Kyoko straight in the eyes and smiled.
"Yes," she replied simply. Kyoko returned the smile and hit the button for floor 14, where Mr. Matsushima's office was. After the elevator began moving Kyoko let Moko know just how amazing she thought the scene had been.
"I want to know what happens next! Are his parents dead, injured, will they all be okay? Who's going to look after him now?!"
Kanae let out a slight laugh, she hadn't expected to get this reaction from Kyoko.
"I don't know, I haven't looked at the script for the next episode yet." she replied gesturing with her bag to indicate she had it. "I'll let you know as soon as I do though, or you could come by tomorrow during the lunch break and-"
"Really!? I can come by, it's okay to visit you on the set while you're working." Kyoko asked excitedly.
"Sure." Kanae answered as the doors opened up.
Together they walked towards Mr. Matsushima's office. He was on the phone again and gestured for them to go ahead and sit down while he finished his phone call.
"So it's been scheduled for Tuesday then, that's great. Alright, I'll make the arrangements. -- No, I don't think it will be any problem at all.-- Yes,... Yes, thank you for the update.-- I have to go now, I've the got the Love Me girls here with me right now. Yes, I will Mr. President. - Goodbye Sir."
Matsushima hung up his phone with a sigh and then turned and faced the girls with a polite smile.
"Good evening ladies, I know you two are busy with your own work right now but we got a call from the Currea Company and they want another commercial with you two in it to pair with the latest one they shot of you. How do your schedules look for the weekend?"
"The drama doesn't shoot on the weekend, I can make the time." Kanae replied.
"We haven't begun filming Dark Moon, and Bridge Rock tapes at night, so I can do it too!" Kyoko answered energetically, she was thrilled with the idea of filming another commercial with Moko. The first commercial had been so much fun that she was already beginning to daydream about this new one and what it would be like.
"Great, I'll call and let them know you accept the job. Be here at six o'clock in the morning and the agency will have you escorted to the location."
"Here you go."
"Thanks again," Ren said to Umi as she handed him the fresh print-offs of the headshots she had just shot for him. She smiled and waved him to be on his way while she began packing up her photography equipment.
Ren walked out into the hall and down to the end of the hallway, then down the stairs where Yashiro greeted him brightly as soon as he opened the door.
"How'd it go?" Yashiro asked him curiously eyeing Ren carefully. Ren gave him a shrug.
"Fitting was quick and I even got some head shots for my portfolio so now you don't have to fill that into my schedule."
"You know that's not what I meant, I want to know how your-" Yashiro began but cut off as the door behind them opened again and Umi Isshibashi came out.
"Yashiro! I wanted to say hi before you left. Hope you've been doing okay, I know it isn't easy to work with Ren so go ahead and vent it all out to me." She smiled. Ren lowered his gaze on her.
"I can hear you you know."
"Oh no, Ren's great. Though I do wish he'd eat better and would listen to my advice more often, especially on matters of his relationships." Yashiro added sending a slight smirk in Ren's direction.
"Oh, that's right!" Umi exclaimed, she looked back to Ren. "I forgot to ask you if you were dating anyone new."
"No." Ren replied flatly. Umi pursed her lips and eyed him suspiciously then burst out in a confident smile.
"Then is there someone you would like to?" she asked. Yashiro looked between them hopefully.
"Surely," he thought to himself, "Ren will say something to Umi, then he can get a girl's opinion on the subject of him and Kyoko."
"No." Ren replied after a pause of thought.
"HA! There is!" Umi teased pointing at him.
"I just said there isn't." Ren said defiantly throwing his lower jaw to the side.
"Yes, but you paused before replying so you had to think about it. Meaning there was someone to think about before you could respond."
"Think what you want." Ren said as he turned to leave. He was too annoyed with her and the fact that Yashiro had began the subject to just stay. He also didn't want Umi finding out about his true feelings, since he knew she would meddle more than his manager to get him to act on them.
"Walk away, but you know I'm going to figure it out!" Umi shouted after him, laughing as she bid Yashiro farewell as he chased after Ren.
"I should of known."Ren mentally scolded himself as they got into his car.
"That's it, one, two, and three. You're a quick learner Bo!"
The audience laughed as Bo continued to struggle at keeping the colored balls in the air. Juggling was one of the special talents of the week the Bridge Rock show as featuring and after a few guest stars had preformed, it was prompted for Bo to give it a shot.
"This would be so much easier if I could just use my hands. Good thing I already knew had to juggle somewhat." Kyoko thought to herself as she focused on swatting the balls gentle upward in a steady time. It was the only thing she could do considering she really couldn't see the ball paths through the chicken costume.
"Alright, well that's all the time we have for tonight!" Hikaru announced to the audience. "Be sure to tune in tomorrow night when we show case some real athletic ability with various forms of martial arts!" The clapping deafened the stage as the show's ending theme blasted out of the stage speakers and everyone waved. Kyoko had to keep juggling till the guest stars and Bridge Rock boys were ready to leave and she voiced her need to help stop the balls.
"Sure, I'll catch them for you." Hikaru replied hanging behind on the stage as he let everyone leave behind the set.
"Thanks for that," Kyoko said as soon as they were back in the dressing room and she was getting out of her Bo costume.
"No problem, it would have been rude to just leave you to try and drop them and then possibly trip over one." Kyoko hadn't thought of that.
"So you got any plans for tonight? The boys and I are going to go out for dinner again and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?"
"Oh, sorry. I can't but thank you for the invitation." She said with a polite bow as she finished placing the costume away.
"Well if you ever want to join us, it's an open invitation." Hikaru smiled at her. Kyoko was about to thank him again but the door opened and in walked the other two Bridge Rock boys and the shows production manager.
"Good you're all here," the production manager said, "Great show tonight. Perfect job with the juggling by the way, we hadn't expected that anyone would ask if you wanted to try it, but it went really well that you accepted it. If that happens again during tomorrows filming we want you to go along with it too. Bo learning some martial arts and sword fighting techniques will definitely entertain the viewers." Kyoko nodded her understanding of his instructions so he continued.
"Tomorrow's filming may go longer than usual, we may have to cut some parts, but that's okay. And then Friday morning we need you all here at the studio for a photo-shoot. We've got to get some group shots for the merchandise line. We'll have a few different Bo head's for you to change through and various wardrobe changes for you boys. Be here at eight sharp. Okay then, well that's all I have to say. Great show boys." He let himself out.
"Photo-shoot? Wonder who they got as the photographer." Hikaru wondered aloud as he and the other boys followed the manager out. He turned quickly and asked Kyoko if she was sure she didn't want to come along.
"Yes, thanks anyways though." she replied with another smile and bow. She pulled out her agenda and filled in the new information. "Things are sure going to get busy once we begin filming Dark Moon." she said to herself as she prepared to go home for the evening.
"Life's not a fairy tale," Lori read aloud from the back of the manga he was holding. "What a cynic." he thought instantly.
A buzz from the phone on his desk interrupted any further thoughts he was beginning to have.
"Yes...oh, she's here already! Well send her in, don't keep me waiting- yes,... I meant that, don't keep her waiting."
He hung up the phone just as the door of his office opened.
Ha! You have to wait to meet the mangaka! she really should be a lot of fun to write into the story.
Umi Ishibashi, is not named after me, I just want to clarify that. I had the character made up and was going through some japanese names when my friend came over and named her for me. She's nothing like me, except that I do tend to hook my friends up together with the people they like. The Dream Together Studios and YumeIssho magazine are my own creations and will be featured throughout this story in various ways. In Japanese, "Yume" means dream AND "Issho" means Together, so that should explain the title there. Because I know someone will ask, NO, Umi is in NO WAY a romantic interest for Ren, at least where Umi and Ren are concerned. Umi is Hiruki's sister - I should say that, cuz all the Bridge Rock members have the same last name and that might be confusing. She is 17 and the story about Ryo and her, and how she met and knows Ren will come up later.
Thanks for reading - I hope you enjoyed the next chapter of Love Me Days, more exciting moments and jobs lay ahead for our favorite heroines!