As usual, thank you for you readers who followed, faved, and reviewed the previous chapters.

Special thanks to [Roshelle Diall] who agreed to beta-read this chapter on short notice. I owe you lots :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Skip-Beat! and the cameo characters (try if you can guess where they came from)


Behind The Scene #4
Timeline: 'The Next Episode' Chapter 4 to Chapter 6

To say that the day was a merely bad day for Yukihito and Lory was a clear understatement.

With his entire body still sore when he moved — thanks to a certain violent cabaret girl from the previous night, the bespectacled brunet walked into the grand building of LME, being extra careful with each of his steps. The bruises, which had already turned blue, were still visible to the naked eye, even when he had tried to conceal them with the concealer he had received from one of Ren's make-up artists — no doubt one of Ren's uncountable amount of fans.

But what hurt Yukihito's pride the most was the fact that he had been asked out on a blind date through Lory, the schemer, only as a some excuse so that Shimura could avoid a marriage to a gorilla-like man. And also the fact that he had received so many forms of abuse in only one night, from a seemingly weak woman nonetheless.

By the way, he did respect the gorilla's strong-as-steel determination to ask the hand of such violent woman in marriage. Yukihito sincerely prayed that the two of them — or at least the gorilla — could find happiness.

And to top it all of, while the manager still had to work full time, his charge had the gall to have a day off from his usually ridiculously packed schedule to help Kyoko move out from Daruma-ya and in to Akatoki Marina's place, wherever it was.

Life, Yukihito decided, was being mercilessly unfair to him at the moment.

And that was when he overheard the conversation at the receptionist desk between the two uneasy receptionists and the black-haired, stern-faced woman clad in business suit.


Meanwhile, Lory still could not get over the fact that he was forced to think really hard to come up with a feasible plan to get Yukihito with someone in a romantic sense.

Curse the bespectacled manager for being way more difficult than his tall charge. Two of his grand plans had been executed, and yet there was still no response of any kind from Yukihito, and in Lory's dictionary, this only meant trouble.

He had to think of a countermeasure fast, or else.

While he was deep in thought, formulating another scheme to set Yukihito up in yet another blind date, there was a knock at the door of his office. In walked Kotonami Kanae.

"President," she greeted politely with an elegant bow, although a little rage and embarrassment was evident in her tone, "I'd like to report about the outcome of the assignment you gave me the other day—"

"That's it!" Lory suddenly exclaimed, finally finding his eureka moment, startling Kanae in the process. "Kotonami-kun! I have a new assignment for you!"


"And so?" Kanae deadpanned, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Why are you here?"

In front of her stood Yukihito, who looked as surprised as she was, if not more.

"Does this mean that you're my 'LoveMe' assignment?" Kanae asked again, more to herself rather than to the man before her.

"Huh?" Yukihito mumbled in confusion. "What 'LoveMe' assignment?"

The raven-haired actress let out a heavy sigh. "I'm supposed to accompany President's important guest to dinner and be his guide to see Tokyo's nightlife," she mumbled, already not liking how the situation was likely to turn out to. "Don't tell me, that so-called important guest is you?"

The manager gaped comically in surprise.


"This is good... So far this looks really good..." Lory mumbled with an ear-to-ear grin as he watched Yukihito and Kanae having their early dinner at an Italian restaurant near LME. He himself was squatting at the back of the van — his vehicle of choice so as not to attract any unwanted attention — which at the moment was cramped with monitors of a surveillance system — something he decided was crucial to ensure that his current plan was successful.

So far, the dinner was going fine. The two youngsters sat facing each other comfortably, chatting — about what, Lory could not make out, as the surveillance system did not support voice recording — and once their orders came, enjoying their meal.

The flamboyant man was about to burst into happy tears and applaud himself, when his face suddenly contorted into a frown — complete with a slight pout — as he looked at the monitor once again.

There, talking to Yukihito and Kanae while waiting for an extra seat to be brought over, was none other than Uesugi Hiou.


"Fancy seeing you with a man, Kanae," Hiou commented, jealousy evident in his tone. "Why did you call me here?"

"Oh, come on, the more the merrier, right?" Kanae dismissed the younger man's comment. "Sit down and order something! You haven't had dinner, have you?"

Realizing that he was indeed hungry, Hiou did not have any other choice but to comply. He sat down at the table beside Kanae and facing Yukihito. "You're Tsuruga-san's manager, right?" he asked the other man.

Yukihito nodded. "It's nice to meet you again, Uesugi-kun. I hope your work's going fine?"

"It's just so-so," the child actor said, skimming through the menu. "Now, care to tell me why exactly you called me here, Kanae?"

Kanae sighed. "You see," she began, "the president's trying to play matchmaker."

Understanding immediately flashed on Hiou's face. "He's trying to set you up as a couple," he said bluntly. "And I'm here so that it won't work." And that was not a question. A grin appeared in his face as he continued cockily, "Count me in."

Both Yukihito and Kanae smiled. "I know I can always count on you, Hiou-kun," the ravenette replied happily.

The brunet smiled as well. Even though it was late, his bad day was starting to get a bit better.


"Why is Uesugi Hiou there?" Lory howled at the phone to Sebastian, who was serving as the cameraman for the surveillance system inside the restaurant.

"It seems that Kotonami-sama decided that it would be better to have more people for dinner," the stoic butler answered in his calm, monotonous manner. "And Uesugi-sama was the first person of Kotonami-sama's list of friends that was invited."

"But she's best friend with Mogami-kun!" the president of LME countered with a whine. "Why didn't she invited Mogami-kun instead?"

"Master, Mogami-sama is preoccupied with her moving to a new accommodation — aren't you the one who informed me so?"

A frustrated scream from his eccentric boss was the answer to Sebastian's confusion. A moment later, he vaguely heard Lory screaming, "Change of plan! I definitely another plan!"

"Ah, I need to remind you, Master, you are required to be back at LME by 6."

"I know that!" Lory yelled out. "Damn you, Yashiro, for being more difficult than your hardheaded charge!"


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