AN: This chapter is a little shorter than the others. I did think about adding another scene but I thought it would be better having it as a longer scene next chapter 😊 I also like the idea of Taisho giving her the Daruma so I'm going to be putting that in it as well.

Act Nine: The Reason For Acting

Kyoko smiled as she managed to showcase her skill of turning a daikon radish into a rose, she had been able to balance herself this time and do it perfectly because she had thought about the pride that Corn might have as he watched her do this. It definitely was a spectacular sight and though other people had skills that were more in line with what they were auditioning for, Kyoko felt proud of what she had shown.

She stepped off the stage before bowing and went to put the knife back in her bag. As she did so, she looked at the phone and saw that there was a message on there. Of course only Ren knew her number though she was going to give it to the couple at Daruma-ya so that they could phone her if there was an additional shift. She picked up the phone and listened to the message, a blush slipping over her cheeks.

"Hi, I thought I'd check in to see how you were doing today. Don't forget to set up your own voice mail, okay? I'm interested to know how your day went."

Kyoko looked down as she closed her eyes. She didn't want to lie to him but he seemed to be interested in what she was doing and she didn't want to tell him about the audition. Corn took acting so seriously that he might be disgusted that she had used the audition as a way of seeking revenge. Maybe she could think of something else to occupy her time or she could always give him a vague answer. He had done so much for her and given her so much, it would be wrong of her to let him down.

She picked up the phone before calling him back only for it to go to his voice mail. Of course he was busy, he was acting as Ren Tsuruga and he must be twice as busy as Shotaro. That only made her feel more special that he had left her a message. She blinked before realizing that she was still on the message service. "Oh my gosh," she said as her eyes widened, "Yeah. Today is okay. I'm doing things. Thanks for checking up when you're really busy. Have a good day," she said before hanging up.

She froze. That must have been a really strange message to leave on his phone and it might make him even more suspicious. Should she leave him another message or wait until he came home that night to speak with him.

"The list for the next step is being posted," she heard a girl say excitedly and Kyoko had the idea of leaving a second message leave her mind. Was her skill enough for her to pass into the next round. She rushed to look at the list before seeing her name there. She had done enough to pass and now it was only a few simple steps towards completing her revenge plan.

She took another deep breath in and turned off her phone to do the next stage of the audition.

…..

…..

"I still don't know why you hired her," Ren said honestly as he and Shinkai sat alone in a room. Ren usually was nice to everyone so the fact that he was saying something so harshly about his costar was a shock but Ruriko had been messing things up for a while and slowing down production and the president and director were still very passionate about her appearing in the project. Ren just wished she took more pride in her work. He liked people who followed their hearts and weren't going to lose confidence.

"That's interesting for you to say, you usually are always very nice to the other actors," Shinkai said and Ren sighed as he looked away. "Is something bothering you, not that I'm trying to pry into your life but if something could delay filming."

"It's not going to delay filming," Ren said. He shook his head, why was he getting so worked up about this. He should keep his mind on his work so that he could pursue his dream of returning to America and working in Hollywood. He was only worried about the effect that he was having on Kyoko. Was she incapable of not doing something for a guy? No. That was really harsh. She might not be auditioning because of him and so he shouldn't make inaccurate judgments.

"So there is something bothering you?" Shinkai asked and Ren looked away.

"Nothing of any importance. Don't worry, I won't delay filming and aren't we in preproduction right now. The first TV interview happens soon so maybe she'll turn up for the real shots, maybe she's just busy," Ren said and Shinkai raised an eyebrow.

"If it was just a busy schedule then I doubt that the president would ask for our involvement and help. I hate people who can't be bothered to do their job and act like divas, that's why I enjoy working with you so much, Ren," he said and Ren smiled to himself. At least his work ethic was being noticed.

"Are you sure that you don't want a girlfriend?" Shinkai continued and Ren paused. He didn't want to think about that and he was worried about what his relationship with Kyoko might be seen as. He didn't want to pull her into his web of lies but was it too late for that, he had already been lying to her about not being human.

"I'm more interested in my work," he said and Shinkai sighed.

"Very well," he told him, "I'll see you tomorrow," he said and Ren bowed and stepped out of the office to see Yashiro there with a grin over his face. Ren had the very strange suspicion that his manager had been listening to that conversation or at least the last parts of it.

"Are you sure that you don't want to have that Kyoko girl as your girlfriend?" he asked with a waggle of his eyebrows and Ren sighed. He looked straight ahead so that his facial expression didn't betray him.

"She really is just a friend," he attempted to explain and Yashiro nodded slowly. "She is" Ren tried to emphasize and Yashiro hummed.

"Still, living with a woman in such close quarters," he commented, "Having her audition at LME with you as her inspiration, that kind of sexual tension is hard to avoid. I would like to speak to this girl a little bit more. If this does appear in the media I want it to be as little of a scandal as possible."

Ren nodded, "Don't worry. We won't end up as a couple."

That was something that he wouldn't be able to assure Yashiro of as his feelings for her were growing day by day, she'd have to do something really stupid to make those feelings stop or to even slow down.

…..

…..

Kyoko stared in shock as Kanae Kotonami gave a teary response to the false phone call and Kyoko wondered what it was that she was responding to with such energy. She wondered if she could do the same. This girl seemed to have more talent in her than Kyoko wanted to give her credit for and as she ended the call, the girl tossed the phone to her as if discarding an old gum wrapper whilst the judges applauded her for her skill.

Kyoko frowned before trying to picture Ren. She froze and shook her head. No. She had to picture something else or she would act like one of those stupid sappy women and there was no way that she wanted to drop down to their level. No. Ren would definitely be the wrong person to think about.

She stood up from her seat and held the phone to her ear as she tried to clear her head.

"I was such an idiot," the voice said over the phone and Kyoko froze. She felt something come up in her chest like bile. She didn't feel comfortable hearing this voice and the revenge idea entered her mind. It might have been better had she thought about Corn and his kindness but now that she was thinking of Shotaro, he was all that was in her mind. "I was out with a lot of women since then, but it somehow didn't work out. They say that I'm difficult to handle due to my ego."

Kyoko stared ahead of her. Her triggers were all being pulled and soon the elastic would snap back into her face. She tried to calm her breathing and think about Corn and that made her feel even worse. Why was she having such a reaction to Corn going out with other women. Maybe it was because those women would exploit him, they would take advantage of him being a fairy if he were ever to tell him the truth. No. Corn had to be protected from those women so she had to keep her thoughts on that annoying guy who had tried to use her as a maid without any love in his heart.

"So then I realized how much you love me from the very beginning. For me there was only you. I'm aware that I'm rushing. Forgive me but…"

Kyoko felt her heart strain as she thought about how many cruel people there were out there in the world. There were always people who would abuse you and take you for granted and she didn't want to let another one of those people into her life. She felt a dark energy surround her. Other women, once you ditched the first woman you couldn't claim her again with a simple apology. Hopefully Corn was aware that human kind often acted in these ways.

"But couldn't we give it another go?"

Cruel. People were so cruel in this world and not only did she have to protect herself from their cruelty but she had to make sure that these people were nowhere near Corn. Corn was a fairy, he would probably give someone like this another chance.

She had to react but she didn't want to forgive these people, "Another go?" she asked feeling that this was a pretty stupid request, she wanted to act honestly. "I'm so happy. I have waited for you to ask me back." Damn these people! She threw the phone onto the ground, "Did you really think I would reply so? Asshole! If forgive me would make up for everything then we wouldn't need hell!"

She froze as she had realized she had broken the cell phone through her anger and as she looked back at the judges she knew that she had failed. The only silver lining was going to be that she hadn't disappointed Corn because he didn't know about this. She sighed as she looked down. He didn't need to know how this had gone. She just wanted to keep him smiling. He was a really good guy and very special to her. If that frown was going to disappear from his face for even a second, it would be hard to forgive herself.

Little did she know that he would return home excited to hear how this audition had turned out.

End of Act Nine

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Act Eight

H-Nala, Kaname671, misherukuro, PaulaGaTo, The Real Jackie-O

Author Response

Don't worry about the insomnia, I took an Ambien the night after and managed to balance out my sleep a little bit. He will eventually tell her he's not a fairy but that will come a little later and either because he feels guilty or during an argument between the two of them. I accidentally wrote cabbage instead of daikon the first time because it was so early in the morning.