Glad to see that lots of you were okay with me torturing Ren for a bit last chapter. I'm excited for you to read this chapter, and I hope you enjoy! It's two days late, but hopefully you can forgive me for that!

I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to write me a review on this chapter! Thanks for all of the reviews last chapter! It really makes me happy to have you guys so invested in my story!

Desperate times called for desperate measures, so Ren had resorted to enlisting the help of his manager to lock both him and Kyoko together in the Love Me room for an hour so that he could come clean about everything once and for all. Yashiro was not to let them out until exactly one hour had passed. They had even threatened Lory so he would help by saying that Ren would never come back from America if Lory didn't give the other two Love Me girls assignments that would keep them away from Kyoko.

Ren was already waiting in the LoveMe room for his love with Yashiro hiding in the hallway to lock them both in when Kyoko entered. He had been nervously pacing around for the past 20 minutes after clearing his schedule for that day except for the interview that night that would reveal his identity to the whole world. Ending Ren's apprehension, Kyoko opened the door to the Love Me room and strode over to her locker. That's when Ren came out of the shadows and confronted her.

"Kyoko-san," Ren greeted her. She widened her eyes at his sudden appearance and turned to leave the room until she found that the door was locked. She tried to force the door open, but it wouldn't budge. She was trapped. She knew she had told herself that she would listen to what Ren had to say the next time she saw him, but she didn't expect so see him so soon! She hadn't had the time to get ready mentally for it yet!

"I already told Yukihito to keep that door closed for an hour. I need to tell you something, but you've been ignoring me for days. Please, all I ask is for you to listen. Once I'm finished, I won't bother you ever again," Ren stared at her with puppy dog eyes, hoping that she would finally listen to him. Kyoko looked at him once then looked away, not budging from her spot as she accepted her fate. Ren knew that she would hear him anyways even if she wasn't looking at him, so he begun his story.

"Once upon a time there was a little boy born to Kuu and Juliena Hizuri in California. He grew up to love nature and animals and wanted to follow in his dad's footsteps as an actor. He was exposed to acting from a very young age and loved it from the first time he was cast in his first Hollywood production, but people would criticize the boy for earning the roles by nepotism and many directors would fire the boy for not acting up to par to his father. The boy started to get mad at the acting world for its high expectations of such a young kid just because of his famous dad, but he vowed one day to surpass his father in acting and earn a name for himself. One day when the boy was ten his father asked him to come along on a business trip with him to Kyoto, Japan, his hometown. The boy didn't initially want to go since Japan was such a small country, but his dad dragged him to his home country anyways. However, his dad was off shooting a movie most of the time, so this young boy went off to explore the nature around him," Ren explained.

"One day, he came upon a stream and found a cute little girl with pigtails crying because she would never be good enough for her mother. She took one look at him and assumed that he was a fairy prince based on his blonde hair and green eyes. The boy didn't have the heart to shatter her belief, so he let her believe in the lie. The two formed an extraordinary friendship for the week that the boy was in Japan with the girl introducing the boy to the hamburger kingdom and the boy telling her his deepest secrets in how he wanted to be able to fly out from under his father's wings and make a name for himself. Unfortunately, the boy had to go back to America and couldn't stay with the girl anymore. He thought that they wouldn't be able to meet again, so he left her with a blue stone, telling her that it would take away her sorrows when he wasn't there to do it. In reality though, it was a selfish move on his part so that she wouldn't forget about him," Ren continued. He looked to see Kyoko still staring at the ground, deep in thought.

"When he got back to America though, things only got worse. He started to develop a hatred for the world that was oppressing him and had unrealistic expectations of him. He started to take his anger out on others and went down a dark path where he got into fights almost everyday with people who would taunt him for his mixed blood. The boy was constantly fired which only fueled his anger more. He had a friend named Rick who tried to get him out of the darkness, but it was of no use. Rick was the boy's closest friend, but even Rick couldn't get the boy off his tragic path. One day the boy was chasing down another boy across a street to beat him up further and was almost hit by a car of gang members. But Rick had followed the boy and was instantly killed by the car that was aiming to hit the boy. Rick's girlfriend, Tina, cried over his bloody and mangled body and screamed at the boy that he was a murderer. And to this day that boy still doesn't forgive himself for Rick's death," Ren said as he grasped his wrist where Rick's watch was. This action didn't go unnoticed by Kyoko who looked up at his slight movement. When she met his eyes though, she immediately looked down again. Ren smiled painfully.

"The boy couldn't function after Rick's death, so one day Takarada Lory offered to take him to Japan to recreate himself. The boy would no longer be Hizuri Kuon. He would be the ideal, proper gentleman, Tsuruga Ren and would not acknowledge his parents until he had reached his dad's level. The boy worked hard to perfect the act of Tsuruga Ren and started to make a name for himself. And one day he walked into LME and saw the girl who he had met in Kyoto all those years ago. She didn't recognize him, and that made him glad since he didn't want to let her see who her fairy prince had really become: a broken man who didn't deserve to be her fairy prince anymore. After a misunderstanding in the beginning, he became friends with her though. Actually, that's not true. He fell in love with her from the time they had played together in Kyoto, but he hid his feelings from her in fear that she wouldn't accept them. The two had met in Guam one time before the boy formally introduced himself to her in LME as Tsuruga Ren, but at that time he looked like the fairy Corn to her. He knew that he loved her, so the boy made up some lie about a curse so that he could get the chance to steal a kiss from her," Ren rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"Today I'm telling that girl all of the secrets I've kept from her because tonight I'm telling them to the whole world and I wanted her to know before then. I'm telling her because I'm leaving Japan for America with my parents for a while, and I'm not sure when I will see her again. I'm telling you, Kyoko, that I love you and that I've loved you ever since I was ten and you were six in that clearing back in Kyoto," Ren finished his tale, looking up to see Kyoko with tears in her eyes.

"That's not p-possible..." Kyoko faltered as the tears ran down her face.

"Kyoko-" Ren was interrupted as the door behind Kyoko opened to reveal his bespectacled manager. She looked at him once before running out of the door, breaking his heart.

…

Kyoko had run away from Ren after his confession. She wanted to believe what he had said, but what if it was all just another game? What if this was his last attempt at playing with her feelings and smashing them to the ground so that they would never resurface again?

As she ran into the LME lobby, she felt strong arms encircle her and keep her from running out into the busy Tokyo street. She looked up to see a pair of blue eyes peeking out from behind blonde hair looking at her with concern.

"Please let me go, Sho-kun," Kyoko pleaded, but he wouldn't let go no matter who much she struggled to escape. Instead he gripped her hand tightly so she wouldn't run away and dragged her through the LME hallways towards the stairwell so that he could talk to her privately.

"Sho-"

"Do you love Tsuruga?" Sho immediately asked.

"Sho-kun, please just let me go-"

"Answer my question, Kyoko, or I'll never let go of you," Sho responded.

"Sho-kun, please-"

Sho groaned in annoyance and pressed his lips to hers to silence her. When he pulled back and realized they were still in the same wish world, it hurt his heart. He had hoped beyond all belief that the kiss would have brought them back, but he had known all along that it wouldn't. Still, he had stupidly attempted it.

"I'm in love with you, so just tell me already so I can move the hell on with my life!" Sho demanded. She stiffened in his arms at his unexpected confession and couldn't help but mutter, "I'm sorry."

He let her go then, but she didn't run away. "I'm really sorry, Sho-kun," She apologized.

"Don't apologize. I don't deserve an apology. I just need you to follow your heart, or I won't be able to let you go. Are you seriously that dense to think that that actor doesn't love you back?" Sho frowned. Kyoko only looked dejectedly at the floor in response.

"He doesn't love me-"

"Like hell he doesn't!"

"He told me he loved me, but I know that it's all a lie! He just wants to see me accept the lie and laugh at my ignorance!" Kyoko responded, anger coursing through her veins.

"You and I both know that he wouldn't do that to you," Sho frowned.

"You're just saying that because you won't let yourself believe in love after what Reino did to you. But don't let what he did affect your entire future! You need to go up to Tsuruga and confess your feelings! Go up to that actor and realize that you've both been idiots this whole time! You both love each other! Don't let that bastard Reino keep you from uniting with your true love! If you really believe that Tsuruga would do that to you, you don't deserve to love him and he was an idiot for falling in love with you!" Sho yelled at her.

"Don't say that about Ren-san!" Kyoko shouted back. Sho felt his lips twitch upwards as he hit a nerve in her. So she would get riled up for his sake even when she acted like she was mad at him?

"I thought that he was only a no-talent pretty boy who only got to where he's at based on his pinhead face. It was probably easy for him to get to the top by flashing that smile to producers that were charmed only by his looks," Sho smirked.

"Ren's the best actor that the world has ever known! Sure he's handsome, but he didn't use that asset to climb up to the top of the showbiz world! He struggled just like everyone else, and he deserves to be up there!" Kyoko fought back.

"He has a nasty attitude though, right? He's a horrible human being. You said so yourself," Sho egged her on.

"He's the most polite and kindest person I've ever met! He never gets impatient with others and always pushes them to reach for the best. He's encouraging and would never step on someone else for his own advantage..." Kyoko countered, her thoughts finally clicking into place.

"And you love him with all your heart?" Sho yelled back.

"Of course I'm in love with him! Haven't we already established that?" Kyoko fumed.

"Even after all that he's done to you?"

Kyoko thought about Ren. Flashes of Corn as children and Ren when they had met again in LME popped into her head. As he smiled at her in her memories, she tried to see if there was any insincerity behind his smile, but she couldn't find any. She thought about what Reino had told her about Ren, and she finally realized that she had been an idiot this entire time. How could she have believed Reino even for one second?! She knew who Ren was! She knew who Corn was! She knew that they would never hurt her like Reino said!

"H-he hasn't done anything... I've just been blinded by a lie this whole time. I'm such a horrible person! I ignored him for so long and ran out after he got the courage to confess to me just because of the lie that the beagle made up!"

"So you love him, and he loves you back, but you won't tell him?"

Kyoko felt herself heat up as a blush came over her face.

"Wow. Tsuruga's such a dope that the girl who he shares mutual feelings for won't even tell him!" Sho grinned.

"Who says that I won't tell him? I'll tell him right now!" Kyoko shouted and dragged Sho to the Love Me room to see Ren. However, when they got there, they were met with an empty room.

And there's the familiar Kyoko and Sho banter that we're used to! At least here Sho was using it for Kyoko's benefit instead of acting upon his own selfish desires! I hope that you liked the chapter!

Why are we tortured yet again by an 18-page Skip Beat! chapter!? And to top it all off, we haven't seen Ren for months and the photo of Sho and Kyoko hasn't been mentioned since then! I just want to see Kyoko and Ren's reunion ;(. The audition is finally over, but this chapter with lots of Kanae-related issues makes me scared that the next few chapters are just going to be about Kyoko trying to comfort Kanae or something. It's probably going to be another couple of months before we see our OTP again. *sigh*