Departure

Ren stared at his phone in awe. He screenshot the text. "Onsen?" he whispered out loud to himself. His mind refused to wrap around the possibility that his shy Kyoko actually understood the implication of her invitation. She ran from kisses!

Ren rubbed his eyes, staring at the text. The car behind him honked impatiently, snapping him out of his daze. He shoved his phone in his pocket and accelerated quickly.

Well, she hadn't run from that kiss last night. Maybe Rusu was getting to her. He smirked, running his fingers around his steering wheel. Momiji was certainly getting to him— he loved seeing Kyoko full of power and confidence. She was intoxicating in every form, but Momiji's dynamic with Rusu made his skin tingle. He had felt possessed after Morizumi-san called "cut" last night, desperate to touch her.

But an onsen… Ren gripped the steering wheel tightly as he pulled into the parking space behind Jelly's private studio. He shook his head. She couldn't understand what she was inviting him to. He'd made that mistake once with emojis! She probably just wanted to do a spa day and didn't understand the difference. He brought up Google-sensei and searched for a local massage parlor. A couple's massage should be a good in-between.

His fingers hesitated over his text to reframe the invite to a massage. She had understood that he wasn't wearing any clothes in the photo with Koga. Maybe it was possible she did know. He rubbed his fingers together. He should take the chance. He started to delete his message when his phone rang beneath his fingers. Kyoko was calling!

"Hello, Kyoko," he said, his voice warm.

"Ren! I— ah, sorry! I didn't mean! It's not— Chiori said it was okay!" She paused. He held still, waiting. "...And Kanae and Yuki have gone, and you went with Koga-san," Kyoko paused again. "And I wanted to— I mean, someone else has with you, and they weren't just friends— Well, they are to you, but to them it wasn't, I don't think, and it's not for me, but I don't know if it's okay with you, or even with me, butitcouldbefun—"

Ren tried to smother his laughter with his hand. "Kyoko," he said, "I'd love to take you. But do you want to go or not?"

The other end of the line was silent. He leaned back against the seat, waiting.

"So forward…" came her mumbled response. He could almost feel the heat of her blush through the phone.

Ren cradled the phone in his hand, wishing he was with her. "It's just you and me," he said softly, "and what we are ready for that matters." He hoped she could hear his love and contentment in her through his tone. "I can wait, Kyoko."

Small squeaks came across the speaker. He imagined her bouncing up and down in frantic indecision. "Let's have dinner together after your shoot this weekend," he offered, "and we can talk about it then." Everything could change after this weekend. He needed to give her him before they took another step forward, no matter how badly he wanted to dive in with her.

"Mmmm," she said in affirmation. "Thank you, Ren." Her voice was soft as she said his name. "I'm sorry I left so quickly last night."

"Did you find out the answer to your research?" He tried to keep his voice from betraying his rising lust as he remembered the events of last night. An onsen trip would be whipped cream and cherries indeed.

"Yes! Chiori and Kanae helped me!" Her voice was full of pride. "And so did you," she said. "Our research confirmed my theory."

Ren waited for her to follow-up with an explanation but none came. She moved on to telling him about her schedule and role for the MV. "But don't worry," she finished, "I've made sure there are clear lines he can't cross."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked.

"Well…" she paused. "I forgot to tell you, but it's a little more risqué than I thought it would be. I wasn't worried, but since Actor's Rule of the Heart apparently isn't a thing," she stopped, her voice pouty.

"Kyoko," Ren warned, "even if it was, it wouldn't apply to Fuwa anymore. What is the role?" He felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle.

"Don't worry, it's just a spin on Momiji. It'll be fine. I can be a professional!"

Ren could hear his teeth grinding against each other. "If it was anyone other than him, yes— but Kyoko, Fuwa is—"

"Someone I pity." She cut him off. "That's all."

Ren breathed deep. This was not a phone conversation. Thank God he had already made plans to go up there this weekend. He would go insane if he hadn't.

"I am definitely taking you to that onsen when you get home," he growled.

Kyoko squeaked in surprise before hurriedly agreeing and hanging up. He sat frozen in the car, still holding the phone to his ear, breathing deeply. This was bound to happen. Romantic roles for her were going to happen. He'd gotten lucky being cast as her love interest with Rusu— extremely lucky. Once Lotus aired he knew she would be in demand for more romantic pieces; probably especially period dramas. But this— was with him. Ren threw himself out of the car and stalked through Jelly's back door entrance to her salon. He needed to get up there. Yesterday.

Kyoko paced outside LME in a tizzy. She had needed to tell him. She couldn't believe she hadn't told him already. There had been so much going on— Lotus, and Koga, and the Emperor, and the newness of dating— she froze mid-stride. Dating! Kyoko spun in place, her eyes full of flowers as she shoved aside the agony with brute force to revel for a moment in the fact that she was dating Tsuruga Ren! Tsuruga Ren! And he was very, very mad! "Aiyeeeeeee!" Kyoko yelled at herself, covering her eyes. Her punishment was an onsen date! She staggered, her legs wobbly beneath her. That mental image of Dark Lord Tsuruga sitting in a hot spa, beckoning her to come to her doom! She was going to diiiieeeeee!

"As if I needed further proof something was wrong with your brain," a scoffing voice interrupted her dark fantasy. Her head snapped up. Her ride was here.

"Stupid Sho," she said, her nose wrinkling in distaste. He still sported that ridiculous hairstyle, today with dark fitted jeans and a branded sweatshirt. "Something is wrong with your brain!"

"Nice comeback. Glad to see you're getting smarter by the day," he said, his voice chilly as he turned away from her to walk back to the luxury van taking them up to Jogodahama. She rolled her eyes, clenching and unclenching her fists. Why, oh why did Yashiro have to be busy today! She started to stalk off after Sho, determined to ignore him the entire ride, when he stopped. She almost ran into his back. She heard him curse under his breath. He scratched his neck, then turned back towards her with a long, drawn-out sigh.

"Sorry," he said.

Kyoko stared at him.

He glared at her petulantly.

"What did you say?" she asked, the words sounding strange coming out of her mouth.

"Hang on," Sho said, turning back to the van. She stood in shock, her brain still trying to comprehend the two syllables that had fallen from his tongue. He returned quickly, holding a small bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates. The bouquet was one-tenth the size of the monstrosity he'd forced upon her months ago, and had wrapped around the bare stems a simple charm bracelet covered in silver pixies.

"Chocolate and flowers. And fairies," he said, mumbling. "Sorry."

He shoved them at her, stalking back to the car as soon as he felt her grip close loosely around his offering. Kyoko stood there, the items filling her arms, her mouth gaping open.

"Stop imitating a koi and get in the van," Sho called angrily. Shoko leaned out the passenger window and waved happily at Kyoko, beckoning her over. Kyoko looked down at her arms, then up at the van, then down, up, down, up, down-

"Don't make me add a chiropractor visit to our trip," Shoko called out playfully.

Kyoko started forward with a stumble, hesitantly making her way to the van. She stopped before climbing inside. "Did aliens eat your brains, Shotaro?"

Sho winced, but didn't even correct her on using his proper name. Kyoko couldn't keep her mouth from gaping. She was going to eat a lot of flies on this trip. "Shoko?" she asked, turning to his manager as she climbed inside, stuffing the armful of peace offerings into the aisle between them.

"Hey! I spent a lot of money on those!" Sho yelled, scooping up the roses. Kyoko stuck her tongue out at him.

"Not as much as your shoes, I bet. How about you let me step on those again? That's an apology I'd love to accept." She could hear his teeth grinding and smiled gleefully. He must be sick. Or suffering from burn-out or mental trauma or multiple personality disorder.

"Now, you two," Shoko's voice rang out happily from up front. "We've got a three hour ride to the location. Kyoko-chan, it's a pleasure to see you."

Kyoko nodded politely at Shoko. She still wasn't sure how she felt about Sho's manager. The memories of that first encounter were burned into her brain, and just looking at her made Kyoko somewhat queasy still. How someone could willingly climb onto Shotaro's lap and- "Ugh," Kyoko moaned, interrupting herself.

"Are you car sick already, Kyoko-chan?" Shoko asked with concern.

"Not car sick, no," Kyoko answered honestly. "Though I do feel ill." She rolled her eyes at Sho. "Probably from your lame attempt at an apology."

Sho growled at her, but just crossed his arms and stared out the window. He held the roses tightly upright in his fist, the pixy charms tinkling as the van swayed. Kyoko thought about sneaking her phone out to take a picture, but who on earth could she send it to? Ren would be furious; Kanae would be suspicious- Chiori! Kyoko smirked and snapped a photo, her phone carefully turned to silent. She'd learned her lesson about that shutter click once before. She gleefully sent the photo off to her friend with a simple caption: Fanfiction Fodder.

Chiori's reply was swift. -Gay!-

Kyoko laughed out loud, hiding her phone from Sho when he turned to scowl at her. Maybe this trip wouldn't be so tedious after all.