Spring Has Come For That Plain Girl With No Sex Appeal

Chapter Seven

Acknowledgments: Bloody_Rose021 for beta-reading

Dedication: YesIEatQuiche and SecludedSapphire - Sorry. This is going to be it for a while.

I don't own Skip Beat!

T Minus 9 Days Before White Day (March 5)

6:45 AM

"Wait... what?"

It was early the next morning and Kyoko reported to the Box "R" set for the morning. She was leaving early too for Cain Heel's shoot at 1:00 PM.

"We were meaning to ask you about it the other day," Makino-san said as the girls of Box "R" clustered around her. "But after he left, the director called us, the interviews continued and then we started shooting."

"We asked Chiorin too," Maruyama-san added. "But she said that she didn't know anything."

"I really don't know," Amamiya-san shrugged. "And it's none of my business. Besides, Kyoko-san is my senpai at the agency. I can't talk about her like that."

"So..." Sudo-san asked with an eager look on her face. "Are you dating Hikaru-san from Bridge Rock?"

"No!" Kyoko answered in frustration as she lifted up the weekly entertainment magazine that had interviewed them the other day. It had a lot of pictures. Mostly of the cast, several of the crew and set, but why did they have to put in a picture of Hikaru-san and her with its own border and special caption 'Visitor On Set: Idol Ishibashi Hikaru-san (21) giving cast member Kyoko-san (17) a good luck kiss before shooting starts.' "This has obviously been done with image enhancing software or something! No one can vouch that this actually happened!"

The girls exchanged glances. Then Maruyama-san said, "Actually, Rumi and everyone saw it."

Kyoko looked at them in surprise. "Wha-what?" she stammered.

"That's why we wanted to ask you," Makino-san continued as Sudo-san nodded. "He was standing awfully close to you then. You were blushing too when he left."

Kyoko tried to remember back to what happened the day Hikaru-san visited the set. He was whispering something to her. Then, he complimented her about how she looked. Crap, she was going to have to apologize to him for this too, she thought in agony. "He wasn't kissing me," she exclaimed. "Hi-Hikaru-san is my senpai from LME. Besides, he would have much higher standards! And he's a gentleman too. And he treats me like-" she stopped. it would be presumptuous to say it so she settled for, "-he's sort of a friend."

Sudo-san grinned. "Sort-of like a friend?" she teased.

"Alright, girls," Director Annaka clapped his hands as he approached them. "Break it up. We'll start shooting in 15 minutes."

The girls looked disappointed and Kyoko was panicked because not finishing the conversation might lead to more misunderstandings, but the girls said, "O...K..." as they started to move out.

"Director," Kyoko bowed low and apologized. "I'm so sorry about all this!"

"About what, Nacchan?" he looked up from his clipboard.

"The... The picture..." Come to think about, he hasn't even mentioned it.

"It doesn't bother me," he shrugged. Kyoko stared in wonder. Why not? "You're at that age, right? A girl like you ought to have a boyfriend or two."

"But he's not my boyfriend," she protested.

He laughed. "I don't think that's something I should concern myself about. Besides, they didn't skimp off on the feature so I don't really care. That's all that matters, right?"

"We... Well..." She knitted her eyebrows and weakly answered, "I guess you're right, but I promise... No more visitors anymore."

"If that's what you want," he answered. "I don't really mind as long as they don't disrupt the shooting. If I banned visitors, I'll have half the cast complaining because their boyfriends want to see the shoot."

"Kyoko-chan!" a crew man called as he approached. "You have a guest."

"Oh, who now?" Kyoko snapped, feeling her demons fly out in rage.

7:10 AM

Miroku stopped and turned to Reino as they entered Fuji TV from the parking lot.

"What's wrong, Reino?" he asked. "We're going to be late for the music program taping."

Reino smiled nostalgically. "It was here."

"Huh?"

"Kyoko slapped me right here last Valentine's Day."

Miroku closed his eyes and sighed. Reino does think of the strangest things. However, they'd been friends for a long time so he was used to him.

Then he looked up with a faraway expression on his face. "And she's here right now..."

7:15 AM

Kijima Hidehito entered the set of his new drama for Fuji TV.

He was as annoyed as hell. He was refused access into the set of Kyoko-chan's new drama like a freaking on-looker.

What's with the mystery anyway? He just wanted to see the beautiful and mature version in person. True, he wasn't that interested in her and she was already dating someone else. Not that he cared about the presence of a boyfriend, but there had to be something about her that had gotten the attention of one of Japan's most popular idols, Ishibashi Hikaru's attention.

Curiosity got the better of him when he showed up for his drama and he found out that she was also shooting in Fuji. Since shooting hadn't started yet, he decided to take a quick peek.

He sighed. He should really give up already. It wasn't like he was going to go beyond anything but to satisfy his curiosity, but being halfway to his goal, he really wanted to see it through in the end.

8:00 AM

"Ren," President Takarada caught his attention. "I was asking you a question."

Ren looked up distractedly and apologized, "I'm sorry." He tried to remember what the President asked and said, "What the question was again?"

It was early in the morning. Mogami-san had an early morning shoot for Box "R" so the two of them had been up since 5:30 in the morning. He was due on the movie set in the afternoon. Ren didn't have anything until ten, where he would be appearing in a talk show for Fuji TV. Then, he'd meet her at the parking lot for their transformation.

"What's wrong?" the President sighed. "You seem very distracted today."

"N-nothing," he answered. Then, he glared at the open magazine he knew the President had left there to rile him up. It was small, but very pronounced because of the bright border. It was a picture of Ishibashi Hikaru-san kissing Mogami-san on the set of her drama. He didn't want to see, but his eyes kept turning back to it every time.

The President stared at Ren then finally said, "I've been meaning to ask you about that."

Obviously, otherwise it wouldn't be there. "I don't know what's there to ask," he tried to keep his tone steady. "After all, it's their business. Doesn't this mean that she can finally get out of the Love Me Section? I mean, she..." he glared at the photo, wanting to rip it off. "...looks very happy."

The President blinked in surprise, his action to reach for his coffee suspended. Ren wondered worriedly if he let his anger show too much. Then he sighed. "Ren..."

"Eh?"

"Hikaru-kun is one of the agency's biggest idols," he said. "He's easily likable and uncomplicated. However, he's not going to be able to survive Mogami-kun's personality quirks without breaking a limb or two. Maybe his mind. Only an overbearing, complicated man can handle that girl."

Ren looked up at the President and frowned. That didn't sound like a compliment to him, Mogami-san or Ishibashi Hikaru.

"I'm not going to stop him," the President said. "He's a grown boy who can do as he pleases. If he thinks he's man enough for Mogami-kun, that's his lesson in love to learn. If he succeeds, I will be ecstatically happy. So, you," he pointed at Ren. "Don't kill Hikaru-kun."

9:00 AM

"Yes!"

Yashiro Yukihito looked up from his coffee and spotted 2/3 of Bridge Rock, Ishibashi Yuusei-san and Ishibashi Shin'ichi-san, as they sat on the next table in L.A. Hearts. He thought they'd be watching a football game on the phone, but they were merely holding a magazine of a weekly entertainment magazine.

"Big deal," Shin'ichi drolly said. "It's just a small picture."

"Compared to the kind of progress he's been having, this is a milestone," Yuusei-san stared at him. "It's almost been a year and the leader hasn't changed from that lame old 'Do you want to grab a bite to eat?' line. He actually took initiative this time."

"So does this mean that we can go out with them on White Day?" Shini'ichi-san asked.

"Of course not," Yuusei-san said. "We've been playing matchmaker between those two for this long and now they have a date!"

Matchmaker? Between Ishibashi Hikaru-san and... who? Wasn't he already supposed to be dating Kyoko-chan? Allegedly. Yukihito still refused to believe it. And here were the boys trying to match him up with someone a date. Yukihito tried to make sense out of it all, but couldn't. Unless...

"Kyoko-chan looks really good in her new drama," Shin'ichi-san commented, smiling down on the magazine.

"She also handled the interview well," Yuusei-san seconded. "Although the picture of them kissing would get them yelled at by Sawara-san. If that was going to happen, they could have at least-"

Eh? Yukihito stood from his chair and turned to them. "Can I borrow that magazine?"

The force of his tone shocked the Ishibashis. "It's Tsuruga Ren's manager..." one of them commented.

"Sorry," Yukihito coughed. "I didn't know Kyoko-chan had an interview. We became really good friends with her when she was still in Dark Moon with Tsuruga-san. So, can I...?"

"Sure," Shin'ichi-san nodded and handed him the magazine.

Yukihito scanned the magazine and immediately dismissed it as something Ren should never ever see. Though at the back of his mind, he was trying to justify the photo, like... Ishibashi Hikaru-san could only be whispering something to Kyoko-chan. Still, it didn't explain why he would be at the Box "R" set.

Could this mean... he stared at the two members of the idol group, feeling his pride being brutally wounded. That these two were actually much better matchmakers than he was?

Around The Same Time

Ren halted to stop and stared ahead at the entrance of L.A. Hearts when he came face-to-face with Ishibashi Hikaru-san, who came from the opposite direction, also about to enter L.A. Hearts.

Ishibashi-san smiled and said, "Go ahead, Tsuruga-san."

In terms of seniority in LME, Ren was more tenured even if Ishibashi-san was slightly older. It was basic manners so he went on ahead and thanked him. At least, he had manners, which was kind of annoying. It would have been a lot easier if he was a jerk.

"So I heard that you'll be a guest on our anniversary episode," Hikaru-san cheerfully asked as they walked.

"There's no reason why I shouldn't," he answered politely. "It shouldn't even be a question. The fact that we're all in LME is more reason why I should be there."

"Well, at least we only have one more person to look for," he said. "We already have you, Matsunai Ruriko-san and-"

"Ah, Ren!" Yashiro-san greeted him.

Strange, Ren thought. He was standing up between his own table where his briefcase and things were set and the one where the other two members of Bridge Rock sat.

"Yo, leader!" one of the members greeted Ishibashi-san. "How was your meeting with Sawara-san and Toyokawa-san?"

"I got yelled at," Ishibashi-san answered miserably. "I already said that Kyo-"

"Aaah! Anyway, Ren," Yashiro-san firmly said, trying to get Ren's attention by animatedly waving his hands. "We should get going. We're going to be late for the 10:00 AM appointment at Fuji."

"OK," Ren nodded, then was surprised when he was already several steps away. Was he in a hurry? he thought. He would have wanted to hear what Ishibashi-san had to say. It was obvious that he was going to say something about Mogami-san and himself. With one last glance at Ishibashi-san, he turned and chased after his manager.

2:00 PM

"I'm going ahead!" Kyoko announced as she bowed to everyone.

"Alright..."

"See you, Kyoko-chan!"

"See you on the seventh."

She looked at the clock. 2 PM. Cain Heel was due on the movie set in an hour and a half. She turned around and headed for the door intended for the actors and crew. The main door of the set was full of Maruyama's fans. She was lead actress and had been a popular idol before she got the role of Chitose.

"Kyoko-san!" Makino-san called after her, carrying a paperbag. "You forgot this!"

It was a giftbag from the show's sponsors. Kyoko had been really excited when she'd gotten hers because some of them had cosmetics. She couldn't believe that she almost forgot them.

"Thank you, Makino-san," she said.

"No problem," she smiled. Then with a low tone, she moved forward and said, "Hey, I heard that Kijima Hidehito-san passed by earlier to see you."

"Yeah..." Kyoko shrugged. The crew member who greeted him earlier was asked what he was doing here. When he said that it was for nothing, she'd had him turned away. The shoot was about to start and her schedule was tight for the day because she'd be absent from the set tomorrow to accommodate Cain Heel's shoot. She just didn't have the time for a social call.

"You seem to be getting a lot of big people coming after you," Makino-san teased. "Are you really not dating any of them?"

"That's impossible!" Kyoko laughed. She never was, and never will be that kind of a guy magnet. "Kijima-san was just someone I worked with in Dark Moon. I really don't know why he could have passed by here."

"Haha," Makino-san closed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Then, I predict... Another one of them will be waiting behind that door for you."

Kyoko laughed. That was even more impossible. "Anyway, I'll see you the day after tomorrow." She gave her a small wave.

"See you," Makino-san laughed at her own joke.

Kyoko was about to reach for the doorknob when she felt something cold. A jolt went through her - a similar sensation to when she felt that the Beagle was nearby and was coming by to attempt to take her to the demon world. She shook her head to take the foolish thought out of her mind. She didn't want to look weird in front of Makino-san and she was going to be late because of that foolish thought. Either way, she was going to meet up with Tsuruga-san. Nothing was going to happen to her. She knew the Beagle didn't like him.

She opened the door, and even though she wasn't facing her co-star, she heard Makino-san let out a loud gasp. "Ah!"

A few seconds later

"Ah!"

Ren looked up at the sound of the door opening and saw, right behind Mogami-san, a tall girl with long hair who was undoubtedly a co-star of hers in Box "R" pointing at him with her mouth wide open.

"Tsuruga-san!" Mogami-san looked up at him in surprise.

"Good afternoon, Mogami-san," he said as he took his foot off the wall where he was leaning onto the floor and straightened up.

"W-What are you doing here?" she asked as she shut the door behind her.

"I just thought that since I'm also here at Fuji and we're heading to the same location, I'd come and pick you up," he answered.

"Ah... ri-right," she said. Then she bowed. "Thank you very much for the consideration."

"It's not a problem," he smiled. She looked very pretty. She obviously didn't get out of her Natsu fashion much since she was heading for the parking lot directly where Jelly was waiting for them.

"Have you been waiting long?" she asked as they started walking the hallway.

"Mm... about twenty minutes."

"Then, you should have come in and waited there!"

Ren let out a smile. "Actually, I was told that Kyoko-sama wasn't allowing any visitors for herself unless it was with notice from her."

"I-I'm sorry," she smiled guiltily. "I'll make sure to let them know that you're an exception. I just never thought that you might pass by."

"That's OK," he said. Actually, he was a little hurt. He tried to insist to the crewman, but he was practically begged not to be asked to ask her. "Besides, if I really wanted to come in, I could always say that I was looking for someone else."

"Oh, I see.." she stared ahead of the hallway. "Still, it doesn't seem right. After all, you are my important pe-" She stopped then quickly unlinked her hand from his. Ren was surprised that they were holding hands just as Cain and Setsu would. How long have they been holding hands? Were the two of them slipping? Was the comfort level they have as Cain and Setsu seeping through Tsuruga Ren and Mogami Kyoko? They have been together more as the siblings than as themselves. Ren quickly covered it up by taking the paperbag she was holding. She didn't protest and just moved her hand to grip the purse she was carrying. "I mean... you are my senpai. If anyone should get access, it ought to be you."

She was blocking out visitors, but Ishibashi-san was able to go in just like that. On a day when a reporter was in too. "Anyone," he said. "Like Ish-"

He suddenly stopped when she stood straight like she was being electrified. She froze for a second and stopped walking then turned around, looking up, down, the sides and under. "Mogami-san...? What are you doing?"

"Eh?" she turned to him in surprise. Guiltily, she stood up and gave a small laugh. "I just felt a cold breeze just not. It felt so weird I thought a ghost might be passing through."

A ghost?

They were having a decent conversation and she got distracted by a weird, imaginary thing like... a ghost?

He suddenly became annoyed. Why was she like this? Whenever something important was going to be discussed, she would always find a way to shy away from it with one motion or comment. Of course, she does it consciously, but it always happens.

"You really shouldn't joke about things like that," Ren answered instead of showing his anger. "You're only going to scare yourself, especially since you'll be working in this studio for the next couple of months. What if a ghost really came for you and spirits you away?"

Her eyes widened at the possibility. She didn't really believe that, did she? Ren wondered.

"Tsuruga-san," she said in a scared voice. "Don't joke about things like that unless you intend to pick me up again. I'm going to be working here the day after tomorrow until eleven in the evening."

8:30 PM

"Reino!" a call came from the front door of his apartment.

He knew it was Miroku, but he couldn't interrupt what he was doing or he'd have to start all over again. He was nearly finished anyway.

"Reino," Miroku finally showed up. Then he stopped when he saw what he was going. When he finally finished, Reino turned to him and his best friend finally spoke, "The guys will be here any minute now. They're picking us up."

"Do I have to go?" he asked lazily. "We've been up since six in the morning promoting the album."

"Of course you have to go," Miroku sighed. "You're the lead singer of the band. This is a party for the single's launch."

Reino sighed. "Fine." He picked up what he was working on and placed it inside a small pouch.

"What is that thing?" Miroku looked curiously.

"My present for Kyoko."

"Mm?"

"For White Day," Reino answered. This was something she really needed. "She gave me a boxful of chocolates filled with her feelings for me. It's customary that I give something back to her."

9:30 PM

Cain slammed the after-shoot drink Setsu prepared for him on the table.

He really couldn't believe he went through an afternoon and evening as Cain Heel in the kind of mood he'd been in. More so, because he wasn't that happy with her at the moment. Well, the other her - Mogami Kyoko. He really had no justifiable reason to be unhappy with her. So she was going out with someone else and that they were having public displays of affection in front of the media? He had zero right to be mad at her, but everything she's done was just unacceptable to him.

Even though she still helped him with through the day. He knew that she knew he was angry. She had been hesitant and kind of meek when acting around him, especially when he was acting "extra scary" today. Today was a good day professionally. Personally, not so much.

After a break and a phone call, she also started acting really angry. She didn't show it, but Ren could sense it floating around the surface.

She was in the kitchen. Her back was turned to him as she prepared a very light dinner because she wasn't happy with the half sandwich he had.
Cain stood up and went to the closet for his night clothes and snuck a peek at her. He was shocked and surprised by the dangerous aura she was emitting and the murderous glint in her eye when she cleaved the lettuce to half in one blow.

Somehow, it struck him as unbelievably amusing. He let out a sputter of laughter. "I thought I was the one who was playing a cold-blooded killer."

"Huh?"

Ren looked over to the lettuce and shook his head. "Poor lettuce," he joked. "I will honor it by finishing the salad tonight."

Setsu let out a small smile. "As long as I can get you to eat."

Ren looked at her face. Something was bothering her. "Did something happen today?"

She was quick to shake her head.

"Did something happen?" he repeated, then added. "Mogami-san?"

Suddenly, her shoulders sagged. Apparently, he observed. Mogami-san needed his permission to act as herself. It happened a lot for the whole time they'd been acting together as the Heel siblings. He needed to be the one to break a scene.

"Mogami-san?" he hesitantly asked, sensing something dark coming out of her.

"Sawara-san scolded me today," she scolded miserably.

Ren stared at her for a moment. She looked really hurt and he couldn't resist. He leaned his hip against the counter and sighed. "Of course he would," he said with a sigh. "It's not good for an agency to know that you have a boyfriend the same way everyone else does."

"Tsuruga-san, you knew?" she asked nervously.

"Well," he said quickly. "I was at LME earlier while you were at your shoot, right? I heard some people talk about it. If it's any consolation, Ishibashi-san looked like he felt bad about it too." What was he doing? he thought. Why was he trying to make her feel better about being with Ishibashi-san? He actually hated the thought. However, he hated the thought of her in distress than that. Then he averted his gaze and gave her quick glances. "I was really surprised too. I didn't know that you were going out with Ishibashi-san."

Mogami-san sighed. "That's actually the problem," she said. "I'm not going out with him. And he wasn't kissing me the day he went to the Box 'R' set."

"He wasn't?" Ren looked at her curiously. That kinda... gave him hope.

She shook her head. "He wasn't even there because he specifically came to visit me. He was there because he followed Amamiya-san from the Majisuka set."

"So who he really likes is Amamiya-san?" Ren felt a huge burden leave his shoulders. That was it...

"Huh?" Then she laughed. "No, he followed her because he became suspicious of her because he saw her push me down the stairs once."

Ren's eyes widened at the revelation. "What? Someone pushed you down the stairs?" Suddenly angry, he demanded. "When did this happen?"

"January, just a little after Box 'R' started shooting," she answered. Then she looked up at him. "But don't worry about it. Really. I saw a doctor until my hand healed. Hikaru-san just became suddenly suspicious because she suddenly joined the Love Me Section."

At that very moment, Ren decided that Ishibashi Hikaru-san was his hero. "Rightfully so."

"But Amamiya-san and I patched things up after and are actually good friends now." Then she blushed. "She said that I was her senpai. Isn't that strange?" Then she turned to him. "Anyway, back to the magazine, he wasn't kissing me. He was whispering something to me and that the picture was taken at an odd angle that it ended up looking like that."

"Oh," he smiled. He was relieved. He hadn't lost her after all. He still had a chance. "So that's it."

He had no intention of letting this second chance pass him by.

11:58 PM

"Master..."

Takarada Lory looked up from his late night drama marathon and raised an eyebrow.

"There's a phone call for you."

"Tell him to call back in an hour," he frowned. The staff of his household knew that he's not to be disturbed on TV drama night.

"Yes, I did say that," the servant said sheepishly. "But, Mr. Kuu Hizuri is very insistent that he talks to you. He says it's an emergency."

He sighed. That idiot Kuu must be frantically worried about Kuon again, especially now that the first teaser promo for the movie had gone viral on the internet. "Alright... I'll talk to him."

That damn fool better not be thinking that he'd ever let anything happen to his baby boy. He picked up the phone and waited for the call to be connected.

"Kuu..."

"BOSS!" the frantic screech made Lory's ears ring. "Juli... Juli..."

"Calm down, Kuu!" he ordered. "Say it slowly."

He heard him swallow then huffed, like he was out of breath. "Juli... Julie's gone! How am I going to tell Kuon?"

Chapter Notes:

- I'm posting this now because the awesome beta-reader finished. Also, because I realized that it was Friday and my weekend is packed. Really. There will be no updates until Monday or Tuesday because I haven't written out the next chapter yet. I'm still reevaluating what I'll be doing to the next few chapters and editing out things that are essential to the story and things that could be left out for other things. Plot bunnies are popping up like... well, bunnies. My apologies to the people who have grown spoiled by my frequent updates.

- I'm not anti-Hikaru. I love Hikaru! I really think he and Kyoko should be a couple. Unfortunately, I don't think he's man enough for Kyoko. Not like Ren and Sho are anyway. What a waste... He and Kyoko could be so cute together.

- Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Again, I don't expect to get them, but really appreciate getting some.

- Next chapter: Sho finally sees the twice as beautiful and mature version of Kyoko. He hasn't yet, right?