Chapter Eleven

Acknowledgments: Bloody_Rose021! Still the most awesome beta-reader ever.

Dedications: To Ecki, who has shed insight to what will happen in this chapter while I was still writing the second chapter.

Too lazy to type in disclaimers but everyone who reads fanfiction already knows that they apply.

"What?" Kyoko cried out. It being seven in the morning and all, she ended up startling several students as they headed inside the school gate. "What do you mean by that, Yashiro-san?"

"He's going to be fired," Yashiro-san sighed. "I didn't even know until now. He didn't even tell me. Matsushima-san just called me to tell me that there might be a possibility that I may have to clear Ren's schedule for Kismet so I should sit down with Ren to look over the other offers he's been given."

"T-that can't be!" She shouted in outrage. Several people jumped. "Where are you guys right now?"

"I'm actually at the Kismet set right now. Ren's supposed to shoot Satoshi's scenes with his family today," he answered. "I thought you might know something. But Ren is at the President's office right now to state his case."

'No… it can't be', she frantically thought, tightening the drip on her phone. Tsuruga-san can't be fired! They can't point the blame at him… Wasn't the reason why Director Shingai talked to her last night was because of her poor performance? She thought that what she got away with last night was a warning. They should be firing her!

"Kyoko-chan? Are you listening?"

Tsuruga-san once told her (while she was playing Bo) that he was fired many times before. But he had long passed that hurdle and was now maintaining a perfect record, working through colds, typhoons, and so many other things. And because of her and her incapacity to act properly, the finger had been pointed at the wrong person.

Oh no! Could it be that because of her carefully worded way of saving herself from being kicked out of the movie last night, she made it sound like she was blaming Tsuruga-san? It didn't make sense though… Why would the director listen to a newbie like her who was having problems over the actor who has the most perfect track record in all of show business.

Oh crap! Tsuruga-san's perfect record will be ruined all because of her??? She'll be known as the difficult actress who got her co-star fired!

No! This can't be happening…

Ren was sitting stiffly on the chair across President Takarada in his usual over-decorated office.

As soon as he got home last night, he'd gotten a call from him personally about a meeting first thing this morning. He had a pretty good idea of what this was going to be about. With how he's been, he was prepared to take the consequences. It was annoying having to wait. Knowing the President, he would be asking a lot of questions. He felt like he was being stretched out on a rack, but the President was taking his time preparing...

"Ren," the President began with a super low voice. "Shingai-kun informed me that there has been a lot of problems in the Kismet production. Most of them centering around the erratic performance you and Mogami-kun have been giving."

Now that he thought about it, Mogami-san's performance would have been affected by his. So this problem isn't just his. The President would most likely talk to her too, right? He made a mental note to apologize and explain to her later – without letting her talk since she has the tendency to move the conversation to another direction.

"When Kismet was on the beginning stages of production, Shingai-kun only had one person to play female lead in mind: Mogami-kun," the President stated. "The offer for female lead was singularly given to her. And this being her movie debut, a strong cast is selected, which is why offers have only been made to the top actors in the country for male lead." Then he smiled and said with vast amusement. "To be honest, you were on the bottom of the list of considerations for male lead."

"Eh?" He was at the bottom? Why?

"Don't take it the wrong way," the President elaborated. "It should be taken a compliment. You were offered the role when the casting director came out and said, 'What the heck? Couldn't hurt to try.' It's not that they didn't want you. They were thrilled to have you. But your status as an actor has grown leaps and bounds since last year so there were actually no expectation that you were going to accept. But as one would have it, you were the first one to accept."

What the hell? Ren momentarily lapsed because of the President's words. How was he expected to improve in is craft if the roles are now choosing him as though he's a newbie? Well, the roles are bigger, but still…

"Shingai-kun thinks you and Mogami-kun have no screen chemistry," the President slammed his palm on the table, trying to get his attention. "Which is actually strange considering that this is the girl you've been in love with for a long time already."

"I-It shouldn't really matter either way," Ren said, knowing that he was digging his own grave by saying it. "I should have been able to do the job."

"Well, it's to be expected," the President leaned back against his chair.

"Expected?" What did the man mean by that? Didn't he just say that his acting skills have grown?

"'Let me guess…" the President smiled wryly. "'Whatever she's telling me are nothing more than words in the script.'

"'I'm not Satoshi and she is not Chiaki.'

"'I shouldn't let myself get carried away.'"

Really… is this guy having him followed around? Or maybe he wired something in his head to know what he's thinking that much???

"You're a very intelligent person, you should already know this," the President said. "The difference between Katsuki and Satoshi? The difference between suppressing the love he has for the woman he desires the most against doing everything to get her. Compared to a deep romance like Dark Moon, Kismet is too light-hearted to be even considered a challenge."

Ren remained silent. He knew that, which was what made it so difficult.

"If it was any other actress, this wouldn't have been so difficult, wouldn't it?"

It was not the first time he'd realized it. If the person who was playing Chiaki wasn't Mogami-san, he wouldn't have such a problem with it. That's right. His consciousness to separate Satoshi from himself made his own performance seem distant and aloof. "I-It shouldn't have made a difference either way," Ren said with honesty. "I should have been able to do it regardless of who the actress is."

"You're working on other roles far more complicated and complex than Satoshi, and yet Kismet is the one you are having the most difficulty with," the President said matter-of-factly. He smirked. "After all this time, you're still lacking in acting love."

Ren looked at the President in disbelief. All this time, he thought that he has overcome that with Katsuki.

"Ren, don't you understand?" the President looked at him grimly. "Shingai-kun wants you ou-"

Takarada Lory was cut off by loud voices from outside his door. Considering the distance, that was quite an outburst.

The doors flew open and Mogami-kun stalked in with his receptionist in tow.

"Mogami-san…?" Ren turned to her, his eyes wide with surprise.

"I'm so sorry, sir!" his receptionist bowed. "Mogami-san has been very persistent even though I told her you were in a meeting."

His attention then turned to Mogami-kun who was in her school uniform, her hair unkempt, sweat running down her face and her bag haphazardly hanging on her shoulder. Totally unbecoming of a rising star. Her posture and overall appearance were awful. The very sight of her made him want to cry.

"P-P-President," she panted, trying to catch her breath, and then shouted, "It-it's not Tsuruga-san's fault! I'm the one responsible for the problems in the Kismet production!"

Lory's eyes widened. "What do you mean by that?" He glanced over at Ren, who was only staring at Mogami-kun like an idiot with his mouth gaped open and all.

She looked like she was bracing herself from something terrible before bowing low. "I'm the one who has been having problems with the proper characterization of Chiaki. Tsuruga-san is doing very well with Satoshi. But as a newbie talent, I am unable to catch up with his level of acting. That's why he is unable to respond well to my Chiaki." She maintained her long low bow as she continued, "Tsuruga-san even came to the point of adjusting his acting in order to accommodate mine."

Eeeps… she had been thinking that the whole time? Shingai-kun never mentioned once that she was the problem. According to the director, even when Ren was doing badly, she was still acting accordingly to suit his moods.

"You see…" Ah, she wasn't finished. And she was still bowing. "This last test is to see if I've overcome my hurdle that got me into the Love Me Section. But I don't think I have! I still haven't grasped 'love' no matter how much I think about it. I am incapable of acting it out consciously. So the person who deserves to be pulled out of the movie is me. I'll stay one more year in the Love Me Section or until you say I am ready to take the test again. I still have a very long way to go to overcome my hurdle. So please… there's no need to pull Tsuruga-san out."

His eyes widened as Mogami-san started to sink on the floor on her way to what Lory thought was to do a dogeza. That was a little too much to get her point across, but Ren quickly got on his feet and stopped her. "There's no need to get on your knees, Mogami-san," he said, gripping her shoulders to stop her. "You don't have to go that fa-"

And in her half-standing, half-kneeling position, she turned to him and said in an exhausted tone. "It's not that. I'm tired."

"Tired?" Lory and Ren asked in unison.

"I think my legs are giving out from running here from school," she said, straightening up, but leaning her hands on Ren's forearm for support.

"You ran here, Mogami-kun?" Lory asked with disbelief in his voice. Then he noticed that her legs were shaking.

"You didn't bring your bike?" Ren asked.

Mogami-kun started at him for a moment then slapped her hands against her cheeks and squeezed her face. "I have a bike!"

Lory's eyes widened. Mogami-kun really ran here from her school? That's more than just a few blocks away.

"You're overdoing it again, Mogami-san," Ren sternly scolded. "Really… what would have happened if you tripped or fell or got ran over or something? That would have gotten you into trouble."

She looked apologetic and kept bowing her head profusely at Ren. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking when I heard. I was just at the school building entrance so I didn't even think. I didn't know what I was doing. I did it impulsively and unconsciously! I just didn't want you to be fired because of my shortcomings."

As Mogami-san babbled on and kept on bowing her head repeatedly, Ren turned his head away from her and in full view of Lory.

And Lory saw THAT look again.

He smiled. He got it now. Ren was content having her think about him. An almost-impossible-to-achieve unconscious thought from the girl he loves. Especially since the girl in question could openly admit to being incapable of consciously acting out love.

What a stupid guy. Up until now, he still hadn't realized that one of these days, it would no longer be enough. Someday, he would start looking for a more tangible thing. Unless he let himself go or enabled himself to separate his character from his own self, he would never be able to play Satoshi opposite Mogami-kun.

Lory smiled and said, "Mogami-kun, why don't you straighten up? I just need to ask Ren one more question."

"But Tsuruga-san-" she protested.

"Get yourself freshened up," he interrupted. "So Ren can get on his way to the Kismet set after dropping you off school. We don't want the female lead delaying production because she'll be at school serving detention."

Lory's eyes softened as she let out a happy smile. She bowed again and cried out, "Thank you very much!" That smile on her face told him that his instincts have never proven him wrong. Whoever said that this girl was incapable of ever feeling and showing love? It would be astounding to see what it would be like when she realized it herself.

"Let's go, Mogami-san?" the receptionist asked.

"OK!" she said enthusiastically as she straightened up and followed the receptionist out of the office.

Lory turned to Ren and smiled mischievously, since the idiot still had that look on his face. "Now Ren…"

And the young actor's face changed to a dry, exasperated look as he frowned. Well, Ren should know by now that he wasn't not going to get away with just that.

That was, after all, how he loves all of his children.

Executive Producers are a pain in the ass.

They inject money into a project, wanting something accomplished. But once a whim of theirs came out, they would demand a change to suit their wants. Leaving the creative types like actors, writers and directors to adjust.

Shingai Seiji sulked at the studio's large cafeteria in deep thought as he waited for his assistant director to fetch him once Tsuruga-kun arrived.

Last night, President Takarada insisted on having a word with Tsuruga-kun first to check if he can be satisfied enough to let him continue on with the movie. And he'd just received a call from the man saying that Tsuruga-kun will stay in the production. But the President/Executive Producer said that if the first scene he performed with Kyoko-chan on their next scheduled shoot continued to be unsatisfactory, Seiji could fire him on the spot.

Well, it made Seiji half-relieved. After his creative side raged, his practical side made him realize that nearly half of the movie had been completed – including shoots at two very expensive locations (the mansion for Yumemi's wedding and the hotel for the omiai) with Tsuruga-kun in both. Practicality dictated that it's nearly impossible to re-shoot the movie unless they go very, very over-budget. Practicality leads to the death of art.

Seiji didn't have a problem with Tsuruga-kun. He was a great actor. Even with many takes, he and Kyoko-chan were still able to produce great results. But the Tsuruga Ren that he was used to working with did everything in one take – apart from slight mishaps rarely caused by himself. He interacted well acting with Satoshi's parents, his friends… What gave him such an unbalanced performance afterwards when it involved Kyoko-chan?

"Shingai-kun?" a soft voice called from behind him.

He whirled his head and saw "Ogata-kun…"

"It's been a while," Ogata Hiroaki smiled.

"It has," he nodded.

Ogata answered. "I was passing by Lot 4 and saw that Kismet is going to be shooting here."

"You're shooting your new movie too, aren't you?" Ogata-kun nodded. "I have a question."

"Eh?"

"How did Tsuruga-kun and Kyoko-chan get along," Shingai asked curiously. "I'm just wondering if there were any problems with scenes between them?"

The delicate-looking director laughed. "Well, they certainly scared me when they do their darker scenes. But when I heard that you got them for Kismet, I was beside myself that something might happen."

"Happen?"

"Well," Ogata-kun leaned forward and said in a near whisper. "Maybe it's just me, but I always thought that Tsuruga-kun might have been in love with Kyoko-chan. But then, I got confused about the whole thing because Fuwa-kun came into the picture and… Well, I'm not really sure about what his relationship with Kyoko-chan is. After that, well… Fuwa-kun never came back and everything went back as they were." His cheeks turned pink. "Ah… Gosh! I think I said too much."

"Tsuruga-kun…" Seiji repeated in disbelief. "…is in love with Kyoko-chan, but Fuwa Sho came into the picture and… nothing happened?" Now that that factor was in the equation, everything seemed to be making sense.

"T-that's just a guess," Ogata-kun said defensively. "Maybe it's just the romantic in me. But I just started thinking about it again when I saw the article on Boost this morning. Haruki thinks it's the opposite though – she thinks it was Kyoko-chan and Fuwa-kun, then Tsuruga-kun came into the picture."

"What article?"

Two men rushed out of the PR Department and stopped, waiting for the elevator, each of them holding a late release copy of Boost Magazine.

"This is all that girl's fault," Matsushima-kun muttered.

"Don't I know it," Sawara Takenori answered. "But how was I supposed to know that Fuwa Sho was also going to be at the Tokyo Imperial Herald?"

"This is going to be a disaster," Matsushima-kun agonized as they entered the empty elevator car. "I can't believe that after being exposed to more popular people for more than a year since the audition, that girl's obsession for Fuwa Sho still hasn't died down."

"Well, you better get used to it," Takenori answered smugly. "Because in a few months, she'll be all yours."

Matsushima-kun's face fell. But he recovered quickly since they had more pressing problems than that. "So what are we going to do about this?" He raised the magazine to Takenori's face. "First, he's at the brink of getting fired - thank God only a handful of people know about it right now - and now this. Ren has never been the subject of gossip and the first time he is, it has to be something like this. And it has to involve one of own. How are we going to do damage control over this?"

"That's why we're going to the President, right?" Long ago, instructions was given out to them and the PR Department that all undesirable news about LME's top actors and actresses be directed to the President. Most especially, anything concerning Ren.

When the elevator reached the floor of the President's floor, they stalked out, ignored the receptionist, and barged into the President's office - where they found him cuddled on his chair, staring out the window, giggling like a little girl.

"Sir…" The two directors said in a dry tone.

The President looked up at them, surprised but unashamed, saying, "What is it about people in this place that they just barge into my office without going through my receptionist anymore?"

"Ren's not here anymore?" Matsushima-kun looked around.

"Nope," the President smiled widely. "He had to drive Mogami-kun to school, otherwise, she'd be late for her second class."

Takenori heard a girly scream. It came from his mouth. "She was here?"

"They're together?" Matsushima-kun cried in despair.

"What?" the President asked when the two men groaned.

Chapter Notes:

- I don't understand why the lot of you guys would ever think I would fire Ren-sama! And for Sho too!!! - Where in heck did the Sho will replace Ren come from??? Did I make any indication of it??? O_O I'm perplexed. If Shingai was going to hire Sho, he might as well keep a badly-performing Ren! The title of this fic is "The Co-Star Killer" hellow… ^^ To be honest, I expected more violent reactions, but I am shocked a some of you thought it great that Ren was getting fired! LOL… you are the most awesome group of readers ever! No one even thought of poor Kyoko-chan!

- Adjustment: The Official Fanbook spelled Shingai's first name as Seiji not Seishi – the little quotation mark-like thing between the last hiragana character made the all difference between 'ji' and 'shi'. Seishi was used in the scanlations, which I followed. So I changed all the Seishis to Seijis.

- Non-adjustment: If you're wondering why I changed Seiji and not Kuu's, The fanbook did spell "Kuu" as "Koo" in romaji. But his profile specifies that name is actually spelled as "Kū" (クー Ku with a long U) not or "Kō" (コー Ko with a long O). I like Kuu better so I didn't change it – and because that's how it's supposed to be pronounced.

- OK… Japanese lesson endeth. Please don't forget to review, whether you love it or hate chapter or not. And please, don't comment on my notes. Those are notes. Review the story.

- Next chapter is going to be up in a couple of days, if anyone's still interested... -_-'''