Thanks for all the reviews! For who knows what reason, I now have the end planned out. Whop-de-do.
Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat!
Ren sighed as he shut his phone. He should have known today would be a bad day. Cinders had left a hairball on his favorite jacket this morning. Shaking his head, he looked at his "replacement manager". She looked nervous as he ran his hand through his hair. "You can leave now," he said as he walked towards the door. Kyoko Mogami became flustered at this, reminding him it was her assignment to look after him as a manager. Ren snorted at this causing Kyoko to become sulky and muttering about how she could do a manager's job fine. "Oh," Ren replied to her half heard comment, "Really?" He smiled sarcastically, planning on making her give up before the end of the day.
The next day Kyoko watched Ren from the wing of the set. She thought about the chaos that was her attempt at helping Ren as a manager and she was determined not to repeat her performance from the previous day.
Ren, however, had thoughts of his own. He was slightly annoyed that his plan hadn't worked and she was still trying to handle his impossible schedule. Not only that, his fan girls were attacking his every time he tried to change locations. Even if she was his stand in manager, he wasn't going to let her get hurt because of something as pointless as mobs of fan girls, and it seemed to Ren, it was really the president's fault she was mistaken as a worker in that outfit. Though, now he thought about it, he wanted her to be discouraged and here he was coming up with excuses for why it wasn't her fault she was doing a bad job. In the car, she seemed depressed or angry about something. "Sorry," she said, not looking at Ren. He looked over at her, "About what?" Kyoko proceeded to explain to him she was referring to the trouble she had caused. Ren reminded her she had already apologized for that at the set. Then Ren heard a strange noise. Looking around to make sure the sound wasn't coming from his car, he spotted Kyoko trying to cover up the noise emitting from her stomach. Ren looked at her curiously, realizing that she must be hungry. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was 7:30 p.m. Realizing this, he asked her what she would like to eat, remembering her favorite food was fried eggs. After some consideration, she said, "I'll eat what ever you want to eat." Ren smiled, considering how to best tease her. "Then how about roasted frog legs?" "Noooo! I don't want to eat that!"
Ren watched Kyoko nearly come to tears as she looked at her steak and fried egg. She looked like she was off in her own little fantasy again. He remembered her behavior on this particular subject as a child. She had been so ridiculous and innocent, it was still funny. Ren snickered just at the thought of it. This of course caused Kyoko to become suspicious as to his motive for laughing. His smile caused some fan girls sitting near them to start talking, distracting Kyoko and making her mad. Ren headed for the car, sighing. He knew it would be alright, but he was still worried. When she reached the car and they had started down the road, he asked her, "You didn't like your high school because of Sho Fuwa?"
At this remark, Kyoko stiffened. She said, "I'm only a stepping stone to him." Ren, thinking back, vaguely remembered her mentioning her prince "Sho". He should have thought of that earlier. She continued talking about how she would make him regret abandoning her. Ren sighed, "I knew that was your reason for getting into show business." He said, rather bluntly, that he didn't approve of this reason for acting. Kyoko looked shocked. "It isn't like that, Tsuruga-san," she said, attempting to stand,"My reason for studying acting is...Bam!" Her head hit the ceiling of the car. "Did you forget you were in a car?" Ren was then shocked as Kyoko began to vibrate. Sitting down again and searching her bag, soon producing a cell phone. Answering it, she was then yelled at by the president for not answering earlier. He said he had a surprise concerning her and if she was interested in going to high school. She looked so happy and said, "Yes, I am! Definitely!"
The next morning, he was at the hair stylist's shop relating his conversation earlier that week with Yashiro and bragging that he had never gotten sick before. Kyoko, behind him was frantically filling out a study sheet for an exam. Ren remembered her crying because she hadn't gotten a 100 on the test. Always pushing herself for perfection.
Ren coughed again as he waited for the next scene to start. He rubbed his throat, unconsciously. Ren sighed, shaking his head, which had become fuzzy over the course of the day. He'd try some tea with milk and sugar added. "Abnormal," a voice behind Ren said, causing him to jump as he faced the speaker. Seeing Kyoko there behind the corner he asked, "What are you doing?" As if he couldn't tell she was spying on him. She explained that his behavior was odd and his lies didn't affect her thoughts at all. When he half-heartedly explained his discomfort, she seemed interested and asked him how he felt specifically with detailed questions. She then diagnosed him as having a cold. Ren laughed at this causing Kyoko to become annoyed. They spent several hours arguing about whether Kyoko was right or not, the argument not settled when Ren dropped her off at her home.
At his apartment, Ren consulted Cinders. "Do you think I have a cold?" Cinders looked up at him like 'I think your an idiot for not listening to her. Does that count?' Ren rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, well who asked you?" Again, Cinders looked at him with a 'You did, idiot. Don't you remember?' expression. As he attempted to look affronted, Cinders walked off to his room and went to sleep. Ren shook his head, coughing slightly, and went to bed too.
At least the chapters are getting longer. Sorry Cinders doesn't play as big a role in this chapter though. Too tired to do any more to it.