I do not own Skip Beat!
As per recent norm, Ren picked Kyouko up at LME after her last filming to give her a ride home. He was taking her home, then going back to LME to pick up Yashiro and head to another job. Though Kyouko's was picking up, her schedule was still much shorter than Ren's. She tried again to convince him not to take the time just to give her rides, and again, she failed.
"Then, why not at least have Yashiro-san come along so you can head straight to your next job?" she suggested.
"Oh, no, I couldn't do that, Kyouko-chan," Yashiro said. "I really need this time to catch up on paperwork."
The wide smile on his face did not help convince her, and ever since she'd seen his photo collection, and been told of his scrapbooks, she had grown increasingly suspicious of the term 'paperwork.' He scuttled off before she could question him, however, so she obediently left with Ren.
Her phone rang as they walked to his car, but when she picked it up, no one was there.
"Who was that?" Ren asked.
"I don't know. Nobody was there," Kyouko said, ending the call and checking the log for a number. "Unidentified."
A familiar shiver ran down her spine. She hoped it wasn't that idiot beagle again. She'd thought, as terrified of Ren as he was, that he would leave her alone after hearing the news of their relationship, but perhaps they didn't have TVs or magazines in hell.
"You ok?" Ren asked, face painted with concern.
"I'm fine," she said, smiling. She didn't want to worry him over what might be just a normal prank call, or a wrong number.
Ren eyed her suspiciously, but didn't prod her any further.
When they were on the road to the Darumaya, the phone rang again. Kyouko looked at the screen and again saw 'unidentified number.'
"Hello?" she answered.
Again, there was silence.
"There's no one there," she said, turning to Ren.
"We should talk to The President about getting you a new number," Ren said.
"Eh? Do you think that's necessary?" she asked.
"Kyouko, you've gotten two prank calls within that last ten minutes," he said.
"It's not always like tha—" Kyouko began, before the ringing of her phone cut her off.
Ren held out his hand. "Let me answer this time."
Kyouko handed him the phone.
"Hello," he said. He paused a moment. "Do not call this number again."
He ended the call and handed the phone back.
"We'll talk to The President tomorrow," he said.
Kyouko didn't think a few prank calls required such drastic measures as changing phone numbers, but Ren had been in the industry longer. He had probably had to deal with this sort of thing before.
Kyouko agreed and he dropped her off, promising to pick her up a little early the next day so they could discuss the phone problem with The President before their practice interview and shoot for Selling.
The next day, Ren was prompt as usual, and Kyouko had a new number by the time they left for their shoot.
Ren scanned the set as soon as they arrived, pleased not to find Shirota Ryou anywhere within sight. He was due to film a few scenes with Ren and Kyouko later in the afternoon, so it was possible he wasn't there yet.
With the annoyance nowhere in sight, Ren watched Kyouko with a smile as she gave her new number to the director and to the actresses who played Rika's close friends, Wada Michiko, who played Emi and Eda Satomi who playedYuko.
"Why did you have to get a new number, Kyouko-chan?" asked Michiko.
"Ah, um I kept getting weird calls," she said. "So, it was just in case."
"Eh? Like a stalker?" Satomi asked.
"No, no, no," Kyouko said, waving her hands. "It was probably just a wrong number, but um we thought it was best to be cautious."
"We?" the girls said in unison.
The two girls' eyes were immediately on Ren and they began to squeal about how cute the couple was. The director chuckled, shook his head and walked away. Kyouko blushed. Then Ryou showed up.
"Ah, are we exchanging numbers?" he asked, coming upon the group. "Send it to me too."
Ryou pulled out his cell phone. That was Ren's cue to approach.
"I think I'll go get a drink," Satomi said. "Michiko-san, Ryou-san, want to come?"
"I will," Michiko said. She tugged on Ryou's sleeve. "Come on, Ryou-san."
"Ah, just let me exchange numbers with Kyouko-san first," Ryou said. He evidently didn't sense malicious being approaching.
"Shirota-kun," Ren said, giving a sunburn inducing smile. "I've been meaning to talk to you."
"Y—you have?" Ryou asked with a gulp.
"Yes," Ren said, moving to Kyouko's side and taking her hand. "I wanted to thank you for keeping Kyouko company the other day when I wasn't on set."
"Oh, um, n—no problem," Ryou said. He was beginning to squirm.
"Kyouko and I probably won't have many days while we're not filming together, but it's nice to know that she has friends on set. Please continue to be her friend," Ren said.
"S—sure," Ryou said, snapping his phone shut and slipping it back into his pocket. "Um, I think I'll go find Michiko-san and Satomi-san. See you later."
"See you later," Ren said.
The boy scurried off in the direction the girls had headed.
"Tsu—Ren-san," Kyouko said, looking up at Ren with a furrowed brow.
"Yes, Kyouko?" he asked.
"You didn't have to ask Ryou-san to be my friend," she said. "He was already being really friendly. I think you might have made him feel bad by implying that he wasn't. Did you see how fast he ran off? He even forgot to exchange numbers first."
Ren smiled. Mission accomplished.
"Maybe he was just really thirsty," Ren said. "Weren't Satomi-san and Michiko-san buying drinks?"
Kyouko gave him an incredulous look.
"Should we get something?" he asked. "We'd better hurry. We'll be starting soon."
"Ah, um alright," Kyouko agreed.
Ren purposely lead her in the opposite direction the others had headed, to a spot where he'd seen a vending machine before. Ren could have used the opportunity to showcase their relationship in front of Ryou, but he was fairly certain, if the speed at which he'd fled was any indication, that he had gotten the picture. He probably wouldn't try to ask Kyouko for her number again, or try to discuss whatever the other matter he'd mentioned yesterday was.
"We're sorry, but the number you have dialed is out of range, or no longer in service," the recording said for perhaps the fiftieth time.
He hung up, took a deep breath and barely succeeded in not smashing his phone against the wall. This was all his doing. She had been answering her phone up until yesterday. Then, after he answered it, it suddenly got disconnected. Now how was he supposed to contact her?
He'd been made an ass of last time he showed up at her company. He couldn't reach her by phone. He didn't know where she was living. He didn't know where she was going to school. If he showed up on the set of her drama, he would be there.
Life really sucked at the moment.
AN: I am sleep deprived, with dark circles that make me look like I've been punched in the face, but my final is over! I'm sure there are typos, as usual -_- But I'm going to sleep. I'll try and go over this again after some rest, but if you point out a mistake to me, I'll probably fix it faster. Thank you again to all who are reading, reviewing, subscribing etc. I really do read and appreciate every single review, I just can't keep up with responses anymore :( Still, feel free to leave me a review if you'd like to let me know what you think. They make me happy :D