"Love?" Kyoko repeated, her voice jumping up an octave. Ren's strange look brought her back to herself and she faked a cough, giving her a chance to quiet the sudden surge in her heartbeat. "Ahem. Sorry, must have something in my throat," she said, making her voice low and even once more. "Are you sure I'm the person you should ask about this?" The last thing she wanted was to hear more stories of him and another girl.
"You're the best possible choice," he insisted. "After all, you're the one who helped me figure out my own feelings in the first place. If it weren't for you, I might never have realized what Mo—what that girl means to me."
Kyoko felt a sharp, prickling sensation in the vicinity of her chest, as if she'd just been stabbed. Glad for the security that wearing a chicken head afforded her, and managing to at least keep her voice steady, she ventured, "So it is love, then?"
"Definitely." Stab. "It's exactly like you said—every time I look at her, I just can't help but think how adorable she is." Stab. "And when she's happy, it's like my whole world lights up," he said, an almost beatific smile spread across his face. Stab.
"I'm…glad that everything worked out," she managed, shielding her eyes with one wing. "But I don't really see where I come in. If the two of you are happy together, then…"
"Hm? Oh, we're not together." Ren corrected quickly, with a small, wistful smile. "I haven't even told her how I feel yet."
"But—" she found herself blurting out, "it's been almost six months since then!"
He raised an eyebrow at his chicken-suited comrade. "She's still in high school, remember, and seventeen isn't really much better than sixteen."
"Well, yeah," Kyoko admitted, "but do you really need to wait until she's legal just to tell her you like her?" I mean, the age of consent only really matters if he wants to…With a squawk, she shook her head so violently that she managed to turn the suit's head around a full 180 degrees and was surprised to find herself in complete darkness when she opened her eyes.
"Um…are you all right?" The actor asked her from somewhere beyond the gloom. "Do you need help with—" She could sense his hands reaching toward her and jerked back to avoid them, managing to slam her head into the wall behind her. The beak softened the blow somewhat, but not enough to keep a number of stars from twinkling brightly in her vision.
"I'm fine," she assured the now bewildered Ren quickly, blinking away the tears that had welled up in her eyes, and, with her clumsy cloth-covered hands managed to locate her beak and return it to its proper place with a sharp twist. Light of a more natural variety peeked in through the eyeholes, and she turned to face Ren again. "I was thinking, and something…unpleasant came to mind." She said, with a wave of her hand. It seems, she mused, there are unfortunate side effects from spending a day in Natsu's headspace. After all, Mogami Kyoko's mind would never wander in that direction all on its own, right? "What were we talking about again?"
He looked at her oddly, the concern for her well-being clear on his face, but shrugged and continued. "We were talking about the age gap issue," he said. "But the problem isn't just that I'm older than she is. That's actually what I need to talk to you about." He ran a hand through his hair, and with a small flush in his cheeks, half-muttered, "This is my first love," before clearing his throat and adding, "and there are things—feelings I haven't really had to deal with before. And since you're kind of my 'sempai' in this, I thought you'd be able to give me some advice."
Somewhat shocked at being called a sempai by Tsuruga Ren of all people, she prompted, "What feelings, exactly?"
"Well, this girl…without going into too much intimate detail," he said, leery of saying too much about Mogami-san's personal affairs to a man whose name he didn't even know, "she got out of a bad relationship not long ago. You might even call it abusive. And the breakup did a number on her—she's basically sworn off romance."
Kyoko felt an unwelcome surge of sympathy for this mystery girl. Though she and Shotaro had never actually dated, she could certainly understand how one especially cruel guy could sour the idea of love for someone. "Okay, so you don't want to rush her." But it was Ren. Ren! There's no way she'd be able to resist.
He nodded. "And I've been approaching her as gently as possible, trying to show her I care for her without pressuring her into anything, but…well, it's her ex. He keeps worming his way back into her life at every turn."
Wow, I have more in common with this girl than I thought! Kyoko marveled. "Jerks like him usually do," she said irritably. "They think they can do whatever they want to you. That they own you."
Ren blinked, surprised. "Exactly...The thing is, I know she can't stand him. But it doesn't stop me from feeling hopeless whenever he comes back into the picture. He can catch her attention like nobody else can and make her act completely on impulse. With me, she's always on her guard, and no matter what I do she's completely oblivious to how I feel about her."
"Maybe she's on her guard because she knows and she's not sure how to handle it," Kyoko suggested gently. "I mean, for her not to notice after six months—she'd have to be pretty oblivious."
He sighed. "I've thought of that, but…well, recent events have made it pretty clear she doesn't think of me as a romantic possibility." Or even as a man, he thought.
The prickling in her chest eased a little bit, and she restrained the sudden upturn of her lips, even knowing he couldn't possibly see it. It wasn't right to be happy over his romantic misadventures, she knew. Still…
"The problem is, I can tell myself a million times over not to move too quickly or push too hard, but when he shows up I just…" He clenched a fist, grimacing. "Before, when a woman told me she was interested in someone else, I could tell her to do whatever would make her happy with a smile. I thought I was so incredibly mature. But when this girl even mentions that bastard, I get so angry I want to make her promise never to see him again. I know that I don't have the right—she's not the one trying to see him in the first place, and the two of us are just colleagues, nothing more."
"That's what love is like," Kyoko said with a shrug. "It's not just the giddy feeling you get when you look at that person. It's the stupid, irrational feeling of betrayal you get whenever they talk about another gir—guy," she corrected quickly, "or that overwhelming urge to do something whenever they're close enough to touch." His eyes locked with hers, widening as her words seemed to resonate with something within him, and she felt that selfsame desire wash over her. She turned away, staring instead at the blank studio wall opposite them, and focused on the still-throbbing pain in the back of her head. She'd probably have a bump to deal with tomorrow.
"So what do you do? How do you control it?" He asked. "I haven't been able to so far, and I think I may have done something I can't take back."
"Like what?" She asked, still avoiding his gaze.
"It's difficult to explain." Ren said slowly. "This guy…he's in love with her even now. But the way his mind works…he tells her she's ugly so she won't realize how attracted to her he really is, tells her no guy could want her so she won't date someone else, and makes her miserable every chance he gets so all she can think about is him. Whenever they're together, all he does is belittle her. So when she asked me to help her with something to do with him, I wanted to make sure there was nothing he could fault her for."
He looked over at Bou, surprised to see the chicken's unmoving face trained on his own once again. The rooster's head was tilted every so slightly to the side, as if he were trying to puzzle something out. He seemed to realize that Ren was waiting for a response and gave a quick, encouraging nod.
"Anyway, that's what I told myself," Ren said. "Really, I just wanted to do something with her before he could and…I don't know, sort of make sure her mind was on me instead of him. I was trying so hard to make the experience memorable, that I forgot to hold back." He was making his account of the past weekend's events as vague as possible, and he was acutely aware that it was sounding more and more suspicious. He could only guess at what explanations his feathered friend was thinking up.
But once again, his mind seemed to be somewhere else. It took a long moment before he noticed that Ren had stopped talking, and finally he said, "You're an excellent actor."
"Excuse me?"
"What I mean to say is, you're skilled at concealing your feelings. More than most people, and most people are sure that everyone can tell how they feel, from the way they blush and stammer to the way their hearts pound too loudly. The truth is, most people don't notice when a normal person is in love." Kyoko explained. "But you're a good actor. One of the best, if not the best, in Japan. If you don't want her to know, and she hasn't caught on in the past six months, she probably hasn't figured it out. Some people just can't tell when the person who's in love with them is staring right at them," and before she could stop it, the note of bitterness had crept into her voice. He didn't notice, of course.
"Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it," she continued with a forcedly cheerful tone. "And as for jealousy…it's just a part of love. You should do your best to keep it from controlling you, but chances are it's gonna be there for as long as you're in love with this girl."
"That's it?" Ren asked, slightly put out.
"What can I say?" She shrugged. "I may have more experience with love, but that doesn't mean I'm any good at it. Maybe you should ask someone else."
Ren thought of his other options and shook his head. "If there was anyone else I could ask…but the only sane person I can think of besides you is my manager, and he's just too…"
"Squealy?" She offered.
"Yeah," he said absentmindedly. "Besides, you're pretty much my only non-work friend."
"Really?" Came the astounded reply. "That's…nice," the girl tacked on quickly. Even through the costume, though, Ren could tell that the chicken was pitying him. He scowled, looked at his watch, and declared that he should get going. He was not so irritated that he forgot to give his friend a heartfelt "thanks for listening" as he left, though.
As soon as she saw the tall actor round the corner, she slumped back in a heap. Worn out as she was, the conspicuous scent of sweat in her nostrils reminded her of her mission, and she forced herself back onto her feet, and went to locate the cart she needed to take her costume to the studio laundry.
"So, how was it?" Kanae's asked, her voice made somewhat tinny by the cell phone.
"How was what?" Kyoko asked, so tired she could hardly think straight. She wanted very badly to go to bed, but she could never turn down an opportunity to talk to her best friend.
"You know, the first day with Fuwa. Have you kissed him yet?"
"No," she said with a sigh. "Unfortunately."
"What? What do you mean?" Kanae demanded. "You want to kiss that jackass?"
"No, but I'd really like to get it over with," she explained. "I've spent the whole day being everybody but Kyoko and it's a little…absolutely exhausting."
Obviously, this did little to clear up Kanae's confusion, because she responded with total silence, followed by a "Huh?"
"Although, now that you mention it," Kyoko said slowly, mind going back to the conversation she'd had with Ren earlier, "I think…I think Shotaro might want to kiss me."
"Huh?!"
A/N: 'Lo again. This episode was longer, as per some of your request. The rest of you mostly just said you wanted more, (which made me feel both incredibly happy and incredibly guilty), so there's that taken care of, too. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, alerted and read! Я вас люблю, и я могу это сказать прямо. Я не такая, какие Рен и Киоко. :P J'adore le chocolat aussi, mais ça, c'est un sentiment un peu différent, je pense. (Je sais, cette phrase n'a pas de sens sans la partie en russe. Mais Google es très facile à utiliser, n'est-ce pas?)