Chapter Twelve: Blushes and Business Meetings

It was the first time that Kyoko had seen Ren since she accepted the role as Rinko, and she was terrified of how he would respond to her. Would he scold her? Or worse, would he show her the gentlemanly smile that spelled certain doom? There they were, face to face in the hallway outside of the meeting room. Staring at each other.

Why isn't he saying anything!?

Finally, Ren smiled and walked up to Kyoko. She was frozen, like a deer caught in headlights. "Hello Mogami-san. It seems that we will be acting together after all."

Kyoko managed a small smile. He didn't have the gentleman smile on, but he wasn't exactly normal either. Something was off. "Yes Tsuruga-san. Please take care of me." She bowed formally. When she returned to her normal stance she realized that Ren had come several steps closer, within arms reach.

"Come now," Ren said, his expression transforming, "starting from today our relationship will be much more… intimate…" He gently held Kyoko's chin and directed her to look into his eyes. They were the eyes of the Emperor of the Night. "No need to be so formal. And you know what?" He cocked his head thoughtfully and looked around. Kyoko realized that somehow they had moved out of the hallway and into a dark room, probably a storage closet of sorts. "Since no one seems to be around, we should start rehearsing now, don't you think?"

Ren's arms wrapped around Kyoko and he pulled her into him. She could feel his warmth surrounding her on every side, there was no escape. And part of her didn't even mind it.

"Don't be afraid Kyoko." He murmured as he leaned down towards her. "I'm a great teacher."

He closed the final distance between them.

Gasp.

Kyoko sat up, drenched in sweat. She looked around and realized that she was in her bedroom. It was just a dream. Her mind tried to make sense of what she had just experienced, but the thoughts were too incompatible.

"What- How- Why- Wait what!?" She sank back into her bed, throwing her arms over her face. That did not just happen. I did not just imagine Tsuruga-san, my Senpai of all people, calling me Kyoko and ki-ki-aaaaaah I can't even think it. And today of all days!

Today was in fact the first time that Kyoko would see Ren since she took the role of Rinko. And due to both of their busy schedules, a week had passed. As the time grew longer so did her anxiety about seeing him. And now on top of everything else, she had had such a disgraceful dream! How could she possibly face him…

It's too embarrassing to consider… I'm just going to shrivel up and die.

Kyoko writhed in agony and rolled into a blanket burrito. She needed to calm down. She needed to compose herself and keep her cool. Otherwise there was no way she could leave her bed today.

Ren sat gracefully in the meeting room, he looked to all the world to be diligently reading his script. In reality it was a cover for him to be able to monitor the door without being bothered. He was hyper aware of any person entering or exiting the room. He knew that at any minute Mogami-san would come in and join the crew for the first table read. It had been a whole week since he had last seen her and the last time they had been together was during that embarrassing incident in the nurse's office.

Yashiro had tried his best to arrange Ren's schedule so that he could find some time to be with her. Ren wanted nothing more than to set the girl at ease. Or at least attempt to. He knew that she was probably overthinking all sorts of things. If he'd had the chance he would have tried to help prepare her mental state for their first time "acting" together.

He would have found some way to downplay the emotions involved with love stories. That acting was so far removed from reality that she had simply had to focus on stepping into her role. He would convince her that she had nothing to worry about when acting with him, that he would be a professional always… And most of all, that she could trust him and ask him for help if she needed it.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, Ren's schedule couldn't be cleared. And it had ended up being like this. He would try his best to be reassuring and calm and not scary to her in any way when she got there. That was the best he could do until he could talk to her privately.

The door opened and Ren glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, as he had been doing for almost twenty minutes now. This time he was rewarded with a glimpse of Mogami-san's hair. She's here. Act normal. Act normal. Act normal.

Ren turned his head and made eye contact with the girl, "Hello Mogami-san." He folded the script and stood up to meet her. "It seems like we will be acting together after all."

Kyoko immediately bowed "Yes Tsuruga-san. Please take care…" She froze mid-sentence.

Uh oh. "Yes Mogami-san?" Ren took a step closer to her to try to get a look at her face. If he could see her expression maybe he could tell what was wrong.

Kyoko noticed his step and immediately jumped backwards, accidentally bumping into someone. Her face was beet red as she apologized profusely and then said, "I'm sorry. Please take care of yourself! We all want to be in the best health possible for a successful drama shoot!" Then she scurried away to accept a script and be shown to her seat.

Ren stood there, bewildered. Something was definitely off. But why? He would have to talk to her after they were finished here. In the meantime, he had to do his best for this table read. As the cast read the script for the first episode out loud together, the minds behind the production had the chance to better visualize the show. They would get a feel for the chemistry between all of them and could even decide to make changes before moving on.

There was nothing he could do now. He just had to watch Mogami-san and hope for the best.

This was absolutely the worst table read that Kyoko had ever been a part of. She had been dreading it all day. Only Kyoko's obsession with being on time propelled her feet forwards once she got to the correct floor. She told herself that if she could totally focus on the people she met and in portraying Rinko in a good way for the read, then she would have no time to worry about Tsuruga-san.

Despite that, She almost bolted the second he stood up to greet her, and when he basically began reciting her cursed dream word-for-word she thought she was done for.

Stop thinking about it! Kyoko scolded herself as she felt the blush creep back onto her face for about the hundredth time during the table read. Just when she thought she had finally focused on the meeting the image of Tsuruga-san kissing her popped into her head.

She had an especially hard time any time Tsuruga-san spoke to her-Rinko. It flustered her, and she found herself voicing the replies in an awkward robotic voice.

It didn't help that she still needed to work on her relationship with Rinko. There was something missing in her connection to the Princess that she couldn't quite figure out.

Luckily the first episode was relatively easy for her character. The plot focused mostly on Hiroshi's point of view to begin with. So Kyoko only had a few lines and though her delivery wasn't exactly satisfactory, she didn't have the chance to totally bomb it either.

After an eternity, the meeting ended. It was all Kyoko could do to calmly pick up her things and walk to the door. She might have speed-walked, just a little. The important thing was to get out of there before Ren had the chance to talk to her again. She could tell he wanted to say something to her, but luckily their female castmates swarmed him. So she zoomed around them and escaped.

As she left the building she thought furiously. If she was going to be this flustered every time they were together during the drama, she was in big trouble. Kyoko needed to find a way to slip totally into character, and fast!

Lory knew that he had to step in. Reports of the first table read for Go were flowing back to him, and the results were not looking good. So far he had heard from multiple sources that the chemistry between the two romantic leads was "as awkward as a newborn giraffe." Yikes.

It wasn't exactly unexpected, he had forced Ren into taking the role after all. And of course Kyoko was Love Me Member #1 for a reason… They would certainly find their footing in time, but if Lory could do something to help them along he should right? Of course he should.

The gears began to work in his head and a devious plan formed. It was bold. It was daring. And it might just work.

Author's Note: Did I have a little too much fun with this? Yes :D I actually had a hard time with this chapter because I want to jump ahead to all of the fun ideas I have! But I'm forcing myself to set a good pace. I'm trying to emulate the pacing of the manga. Who knows how successful that is. But I hope you are enjoying the read! Thank you so much to everyone who is following along. It makes my heart happy to see the comments and likes and follows. Thank you!

I also want to say that I haven't quite figured out the plot for Go yet. Is that terrible? What I know so far is that it's involving the Prince and Princess from different Kingdoms. Maybe one of them has run away? Maybe there is some kind of political scheme at work? Let me know if you have any ideas! I would love to hear them :D