Chapter 4

Author's Note:
Skip Beat! and its characters belong to the creator Nakamura Yoshiki. Skip Beat! is serialised in 'Hana to Yume' magazine (Hakusensha) and licensed in English by 'Shojo Beat' (VIZ Media, LLC).

The work below is written in the spirit of fan appreciation.
UK English has been used throughout.

I found this chapter very hard to write because we're only learning about Saena now. I wonder if the very next chapter of the manga will invalidate my assumptions :)
To everyone who left reviews of the story so far: thank you for all the fantastic feedback. I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Happy New Year!

Don't freak out, he told himself.

Before him stood Mogami Saena, but Kyouko-chan hadn't arrived yet and Ren didn't know what to do. Even Yashiro-san wasn't there.

"Nice to meet you," he said with a bow. "I'm Tsuruga Ren. Please regard me favourably."

"I'm Mogami. Nice to meet you. Are you the actor who starred in Dark Moon?"

"Yes, I played Katsuki."

"Hm."

Ren waited a moment, half-expecting the woman to say that her daughter had been in the show too. Instead, she just looked askance of him, as if wondering why he was standing near her.

He gave her his most polite smile. "I believe we're waiting for the same meeting. I'm here to meet with Mifune-kantoku and your daughter." Yes, I know who you are.

A deep wrinkle appeared in her brow. Ren expected her to say something to indicate she was annoyed or affronted, but instead she said, "Ah, my apologies. You must be in this new drama too."

Ren kept his face locked in the smile. Her facial expression and her words did not seem to match. Usually he was pretty good at reading the flow of conversation in Japanese, but talking to Kyouko-chan's mother made him remember when he was 16 or so and still having trouble with the frustrating 'it's all in the context' nature of the Japanese language.

"Yes, I'm in the drama. I'm looking forward to working with your daughter again. It's been a while since we shot the last episode of Dark Moon." He had no choice but to assume that Kyouko-chan hadn't told her mother about Tragic Marker.

"Hm."

Ren was close to gritting his teeth. He'd seen this woman deny her own daughter's existence on TV. Even though Kyouko-chan had said that she had begun to work through her issues with her mother, he wanted to see some sign of improvement in the woman with his own eyes to assure himself that Kyouko-chan would be fine in her company. He didn't have a right to interfere, but he did want to make sure she was OK.

His train of thought was interrupted by four people approaching them: Kyouko-chan, Yashiro-san, Mifune-kantoku, and an unknown woman.

"Ren, I found the others having a conversation just down the hall," said Yashiro-san.

"Good afternoon, mother. Good afternoon, Tsuruga-sempai," said Kyouko-chan as she bowed so deeply that Ren could only see her back.

Those who had never met before were introduced. The woman with Mifune-kantoku was the producer, Kobayashi-san. They entered the meeting room and took seats: the director and the producer on one end, Ren and Yashiro-san at one side, and Kyouko-chan and her mother across from them. Ren smiled at Kyouko-chan and then looked at the director.

"Thank you all for coming here today," said the director. "And thank you Mogami-san in particular for coming to this meeting during what is no doubt a busy work day for you. Before we continue, may I ask you to sign this? Its purpose is to protect the plot details of the show from leaking."

Kyouko-chan's mother carefully read the NDA, signed it, and returned it to the director. Once she had done so, the director outlined the role of Takamatsu Tomoe and her relationship with Ren's character.

Ren barely heard a word that he said. Instead, he watched Kyouko-chan out the corner of his eye while he pretended to look at the director. She sat beside her mother with an attentive look on her face. If he didn't know better, he would have no clue that there was any bad blood between her and her mother, because there wasn't a single speck of discomfort on her face. Ren didn't trust that mild expression, though. She'd hidden enough stuff from him before that he suspected if she didn't want anyone to see that she was in pain, they wouldn't.

"I understand," said Kyouko-chan's mother. "Are you asking special permission because you will be asking my daughter to do questionable things on camera?"

"No, no, no," said Mifune-kantoku. "Our lawyer is just very thorough. We want this drama to have either a 7.30 pm or 8.30 pm time slot, so it will be very tame. Just a few kisses, and one scene where we will have the two actors under a duvet, fully clothed, and imply that the characters were recently intimate. We won't ask for any, ah, movements." He cleared his throat and glanced at Kyouko-chan. The tiniest hint of pink dusted her cheeks for a brief moment before it faded away. She was getting so good at controlling her blushes! Few actors could do that at will.

"If my daughter is comfortable acting those scenes, and if she is happy with the long days, I can't see a reason why she shouldn't take the role. This is her chosen career, after all. It must be good for her development to push herself with new role types."

Mifune-kantoku also looked briefly surprised. "That's fantastic. To tell you the truth, I was expecting a little more hesitancy, so I prepared some further assurances for you. May I convey them anyway?"

"Please do."

"Much of the drama will be shot in the studio, but we will also have many location shots down in Zushi, near Kamakura. We've rented a house near the location so that the skeleton crew can stay there when we're having late night and early morning shoots because travel may be impractical, especially for those without cars. I wanted to assure you that all the rooms have lockable doors, there are separate male and female bathrooms, and whenever your daughter will be staying at the house, Kobayashi-san will also stay to chaperone her."

Kobayashi-san bowed to Kyouko-chan's mother from her seated position.

"Thank you for your assurance," said Kyouko-chan's mother.

"Yes, thank you so much. I'm sorry for any hassle I will cause," said Kyouko-chan.

"That's quite all right," said Kobayashi-san. "We want to take good care of you."

The house was news to Ren, but he had worked under similar circumstances before. Not all dramas had enough in the budget for hotel reservations for cast and crew.

Zushi, a popular summer beach, made sense as a location for a summer drama, even though the story was supposed to be set further north on the Pacific coast. The camera crew would just have to make sure they didn't catch any obvious landmarks, such as Mt Fuji, in frame. His character would be working a summer job at a beach café and spending a lot of time at the beach. His mind stuttered briefly over the thought of possibly getting to see Kyouko-chan in a bathing suit, but he pushed the thought aside and concentrated on the meeting instead.

"I also asked Tsuruga-san here today in case you had any questions for him, considering that he will be working so closely with your daughter," said Mifune-kantoku.

Instead of turning to him, Kyouko-chan's mother turned to her and asked, "Are you comfortable acting this role with him?"

Kyouko-chan coloured slightly. She didn't look at him, only her mother. Ren supposed she was embarrassed talking about this kind of topic.

"Yes, I think I can act the role with him. He's very professional, and actually he's my sempai at LME and has given me much advice and assistance on my journey to becoming an actress."

Ren's heart managed to both swell and deflate at once. She was comfortable with him. Because she considered him to be her professional sempai.

Kyouko-chan's mother finally looked at him. The frown on her brow made him feel like he ought to apologise ahead of time for any unavoidable intimacy he would need to have with Kyouko-chan to film the scenes alluded to.

"Will you keep an eye on Kyouko during the filming of the drama and make sure that she is professional and others are professional to her?"

Ren bowed in his seat, hiding his expression. Like her daughter, had she not noticed that he was a young man? He was a bit insulted that she hadn't considered the possibility that he was a possible threat. Which, to be perfectly fair, he probably was despite how determined he was not to push Kyouko-chan any further than she was ready for. After all, he still occasionally had those moments where he imagined that she had started to see him as a desirable man and he had to talk sense into himself again. What if he made a mistake one day, thought she wanted him, acted, and screwed everything up?

Actually, considering that was one of his biggest fears, he probably wasn't a threat after all. Face it, Ren. There's still too much of chicken Kuon in you for you to try anything.

"I will take good care of her," he said.

Kyouko-chan's mother inclined her head.

"If you're happy with everything, could I prevail upon you to sign this document, Mogami-san?" said Kobayashi-san. "The document is carefully worded so that you can check with us about anything at any point. We aren't intending to lock your daughter into our project in a way that will take away her rights or yours." She handed Kyouko-chan's mother a multi-page document.

While Kyouko-chan's mother read the document, Mifune-kantoku gestured at Ren and Kyouko-chan. "I brought these for you to look at, since you're here." He then pushed a sheet of paper to each of them.

Ren's paper showed a sketchy illustration of a male figure wearing an unbuttoned henley t-shirt, cargo pants rolled to the knee, and flip-flop sandals. The man had his hair pushed back with a headband. The look was very small town Japan casual. To the side, there were smaller illustrations of the man wearing a hooded light rain jacket and a zip-up hoodie.

"Ooshima Kazufumi's wardrobe concept?" he asked.

"Yes. What do you think?"

It looked like he would be a lot more comfortable on the set of this new drama than he had been on other sets over the last few years. Costume departments had a tendency to put him in suits and ties all the time. Just looking at the casual wardrobe illustrations made him feel at ease.

"It looks good. Different from my normal look, but that's something I'm keen to try. What do you think Yashiro-san?"

His manager was looking at the sheet as well. "I like it too," he said. "Quite a few people online say they aren't your fans because even though they like your face, they think you look too buttoned up and stiff all the time. It'll do wonders for your popularity to show a different, more casual look."

"'Stiff'?"

"Their word, not mine, Ren." Yashiro-san grinned. "Even you can't please everyone. We can give it a good go, though, right?"

"What do you think of your wardrobe concept, Kyouko-san?" asked Mifune-kantoku.

Ren looked across at her. She had a small frown on her brow.

"It's not what I expected considering how the character is written in the script."

"Are you worried?" asked Kobayashi-san.

"Oh! No," said Kyouko-chan. "I just think that I'll have to put a little more work into developing my character, but that's a good thing. It's a challenge." That determined smile was pulling at the corner of her mouth.

"May I see?" asked Ren.

"Sure." She passed her sheet across the table to him, and he handed his to her in return.

The girl in the picture wore a short-sleeved purple hoodie over some kind of sleeveless shirt or tank top that was only sketchily drawn, pink high-top basketball sneakers, and turquoise denim shorts of a similar length as those Setsuka Heel had worn. The figure was drawn with a teenaged slouch and with hair falling in her eyes. The side pictures showed the girl with ripped jeans, a tank top and Dr Martens; and wearing a sleeveless summer dress with fingerless gloves and the same pair of Dr Martens. Overall the look was casual and nowhere near as sexual as Setsuka Heel, but even so the outfits didn't cover much more skin.

"Are the shorts too short?" Asked Mifune-kantoku. "We don't want to make you uncomfortable, but we do want to convey the heat of summer through the characters' wardrobes."

"That's fine, director, I can wear them."

She held the other paper up and looked from it to Ren and back again.

"Can you see me wearing that?" he asked.

She smiled. "Easily."

Of course. He'd been wearing his track pants when he cooked the Maui omu rice for her, and he'd lent her a hoodie another time she'd visited, so she knew he didn't always wear the dressy outfits he wore to work.

They handed the costume sheets back to the director, and a short while later Kyouko-chan's mother signed the consent form and handed it in as well.

"Thank you very much for coming in today," said Mifune-kantoku. "Tsuruga-san, Kyouko-san, I look forward to working with you on this drama. Needless to say, even though neither of you will play the main character in this drama, it's success will still rely on your performances. Please call me if you have any questions. If not, the next you'll hear will either be the costume or makeup departments asking you to come in for measurements or trial shots, or it will be Kobayashi-san calling you in for the first round-table script reading, whichever is first."

"I have a quick question now," said Kyouko-chan. "If our characters' relationship is so important, why didn't you ask us to come in for a chemistry test?"

Good question, thought Ren. He hadn't considered that because he already knew they had good acting chemistry.

The director coughed and gave Kobayashi-san a sidelong look. "Well, ah, a certain director is one of my drinking buddies and has also been my sempai in the field for many years. I don't mean Ogata who directed Dark Moon."

Konoe-kantoku, thought Ren. Kyouko-chan gave him a look that indicated she was thinking the same thing.

"Do I need to say more?" asked the director.

"No," they both said.

"What are you talking about?" asked Kyouko-chan's mother.

"Um, I can't say much, but he's referring to the job I needed the passport for, the one where I was working behind the scenes."

"Why would such a job negate the need for a chemistry test, whatever that is?" Kyouko-chan's mother looked at Ren for an answer.

"We're not at liberty to say. We signed NDAs."

"Technically I shouldn't know, either," said the director. "That guy got a little drunk and just had to brag about how smart he was, though."

Ren sighed. Would Cain Heel's identity remain secret until after the Tragic Marker movie premiere, or would it come out sooner?

The director stood and everyone else followed suit.

Ren bowed. "Please take care of me from now on. I look forward to working with you."

"You, too," said the director.

Everyone else said their farewells too and filed out of the room. Once in the hallway, the director and the producer left immediately, saying they had another

meeting to go to.

Ren turned to Kyouko-chan. "Are you looking forward to the drama?"

"Yes, um, sorry, I have to go too. I have a LoveMe job." She bowed to him, then to her mother. "Thank you. Thank you so much!"

"Please don't mention it," said her mother. "Now, off you go to your job."

Kyouko-chan bowed again and then took off at a run.

"Is she going to that mysterious job again?" asked Yashiro-san.

"Looks like."

"Are you sure you don't want me to look into what it is?"

Ren gave his manager a sharp look. "It's not our business."

"OK. We've an hour before we have to go to the magazine shoot. I'm going to make some calls. You should take a break. Do you need me to get you anything?"

"No, I'll be fine. I'll get a cup of tea or something."

"You'd better eat something too," said Yashiro-san. "Or Kyouko-chan will growl at me. Meet you in the foyer in an hour." Yashiro-san waved and walked down the hall, already pulling on a latex glove so that he could safely operate his phone.

Ren turned to Kyouko-chan's mother, who was still standing nearby. He bowed. "It was nice to meet you today."

"If you have time, may I prevail upon you?" she said. "I have a few questions."

Ren's stomach sank, but he could hardly turn her down. She'd just heard him say he was free for the next hour. "Of course. There's a staff and visitor café on the second floor. Would you like a tea or coffee?"

Ten minutes later, Ren sat across from his crush's mother, feeling as awkward and fidgety as a boy meeting his very first girlfriend's parents. She sat with her hands folded and her back straight, a blank look on her face. Ren picked up his teacup and took a sip to calm his nerves. His BLT sandwich so far sat to one side untouched.

Sweat pricked at Ren's temples and armpits. He was waiting for the recriminations to start; something along the lines of, 'Why are you making eyes at my teenaged daughter?' He must have let his feelings slip during the meeting. He knew he had it bad, and he was sure most people could see it on his face. Well, everyone except the girl in question.

"What is your professional opinion of my daughter's acting ability?"

Ren blinked. "Huh?"

"You've worked with her before, haven't you? I'd like to know how good she is and what her prospects are."

"She's good. Really good. It's hard to believe she only started acting last year. She has a lot of natural talent."

Kyouko-chan's mother gave him a long look. "You're not just saying that because it's what you think I want to hear, are you?"

"Not at all. I really mean it. It surprised me that she started making so much progress so fast. First a commercial, then a music video, then straight to an important role in a popular drama. Your daughter is doing much better than I did for many years."

"She must have some problems and challenges, surely."

Ren nodded. "She does. But she's working hard to overcome those hurdles. I've never come across anyone else in the industry who strives as hard for perfection as her, but what else would you expect from a girl who got 100% on her entrance exam for one of the top schools in Tokyo?"

Kyouko-chan's mother gasped. "She got 100%?"

You great big idiot, he thought to himself. Why did you tell her that? Kyouko-chan got that score for herself, not for her mother like she'd always tried to do in the past. She probably didn't want her mother to know!

"As I understand it, yes," he said.

The briefest of smiles tugged at the corner of her mouth, but she quickly smoothed it away. "What do you think of her potential to make acting a long-term career?"

"I think she'll be able to do it." He rubbed at his mouth, weighing up two considerations: telling Kyouko-chan's mother how awesome her daughter was because of what he knew about the woman's past actions, and Kyouko-chan's probable reluctance to open up to her mother too much at this point. What should Ren say, and what should he leave unsaid? "I'm not the only one who thinks so," he said eventually. "The president wouldn't have hired her if he didn't have high hopes."

"Isn't she in a reserve section?"

"That's the official line about the LoveMe section, but it's not how the section is handled in reality. It's well known that the LoveMe girls are the president's pet project, his favourites. He pushes them harder because he believes in their potential." He decided not to say that the section had been created in the first place as a section in which to put Kyouko-chan. "Also, as I understand it, Kuu Hizuri believes in her talents too and would like to see her acting in Hollywood." Now, why did he go and say that?

Kyouko-chan's mother's eyes widened. "She's met Kuu Hizuri? The Hollywood actor? He knows who she is?"

"Um, yes. It's not really my place to tell that story, though. I shouldn't have mentioned it." He really shouldn't have. He was usually in better control of himself than this, but he had to admit to himself that he was finding Mogami Saena to be rather intimidating.

"But he said he thinks she has potential?"

"Yes, I heard him say so himself when he was visiting LME."

"Of course, she was in a remake of a drama that he was well known for," she said to herself.

"Did you watch Tsukigomori?"

"Yes, back when it was on TV for the first time. I was at Uni and the others in my dorm watched it religiously."

"How did you think Dark Moon compared with the original?" He hoped that she thought Kyouko-chan had performed a better Mio.

"I only saw one episode of Dark Moon when I happened to have the TV on."

Ren sat staring at her, speechless. She hadn't watched the drama her own daughter had appeared in?

Kyouko-chan's mother raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't realise it was her at the time. By the time I realised it was too late, and it hasn't been repeated or released on DVD yet."

That wasn't so bad. "I've been given a few pre-release copies of the DVD box set," he said. "I was given them as a thank you for contributing to the audio commentary. Would you like a copy? I'm allowed to give them to people that I know."

She inclined her head slightly. "That would be nice. Thank you."

"Where should I send it to?"

She opened her purse and took out a business card. She handed it to him with a small seated bow. He took the card, looked at it carefully as was important to do in Japan, and then slid it into his shoulder bag.

"Thank you," he said. "I'll send you the DVDs as soon as I'm able."

Kyouko-chan's mother finished her cup of tea and then stood. "I need to get back to work. Thank you very much for your time, Tsuruga-san, and thank you for agreeing to keep an eye on my daughter on set. I'm glad to know that she will have a sempai around who will be looking out for her interests."

Ren stood and bowed to her. "It's my pleasure. It was nice to meet you."

At the appointed time, Yashiro-san arrived in the foyer to meet Ren. "Are you OK, Ren?" He asked. "You're looking a little peaky. Did you eat?"

"Of course. I had a sandwich. But Mogami-san's mother joined me and asked me questions about her daughter."

Yashiro-san's eyes widened. "Did she figure out, well, you know? Your feelings?" He said the last in a stage whisper.

Ren shook his head. "I don't think so. She asked me about Mogami-san's acting ability."

Yashiro-san nodded. "That's a good sign, I think."

"Yeah. I don't want to meddle in Mogami-san's affairs, but it's good to know that she wasn't tricking us when she said that she was making progress with her mother."

They walked out to the parking lot as they talked. Just before they reached Ren's car, Yashiro-san handed him an envelope.

"I ran into Kotonami-san just before. She asked me to hand this to you."

"What is it?"

"I have no idea." Yashiro-san's face took on a shifty look. "Wouldn't it be awkward if Kyouko-chan's best friend fell for you?"

Ren shook his head. "I doubt Kotonami-san is likely to fall for anyone. She's in the LoveMe section too, remember?"

He opened the envelope once he was seated in the driver's seat. Inside was a piece of A4 with an inkjet printout of a photo to one side and a handwritten note on the white space beside it. The photo was of Kyouko-chan wearing a gorgeous blue 1950s-style dress and posing like a magazine model. His gaze was arrested by her confident expression and the delicate lines of her neck and shoulders. The colour of the dress brought out her eyes and suited her hair colour. After several long moments he forced himself to look at the handwritten text:

Dress: Swingin' Sweetheart, blue, size S, 39,999 yen
Shop: Rock Your Socks Off, Venus Fort (has an online store)
She was so sad she couldn't afford it.

You're welcome
Kotonami

P.S. You owe me one

Next time: What's Shoutarou up to this time? And who else has been cast in Aozora no Yume?