Chapter 170: You Owe Me

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Skip Beat, for if I did, Ruto!

This was it! His palms were slick with perspiration and his heart pounded erratically in his chest. He was so anxious to see her again. Even though they didn't get along in high school, he knew that fate had brought them together when they bumped into each other at university and kept bumping into each other afterward. Before he knew it, his eyes often drifted in her direction during lectures and he started making excuses to show up at her workplace at the cafe. Soon, they were studying together and hanging out during their off-hours. They were meeting at their favorite spot today; a bench beside the pond. He had impatiently shown up thirty minutes before their designated meeting time, and he still couldn't stop pacing. He inhaled sharply as she came into view with the sun setting behind her, framing her like an angel. He straightened his tie and scooped up the bouquet he had brought with him. He waved; she waved back.

Niko: "Hi!"

Minato:

a.) Hi, these are for you. *Hands over bouquet*

b.) Hi! *Hides bouquet behind his back.*

Niko: "They're pretty, thanks. *blushes as she shyly hides her face behind the flowers* What's the occasion?"

Minato: There's something I've been wanting to tell you.

Niko smiles at Minato expectantly.

Will Minato confess his undying love and devotion to Niko?

a.) YES

b.) NO

His eyes welled up as a torrent of emotions overwhelmed him. He could feel it in his gut. This was it — the moment he had been waiting for all night. He had carefully executed every scenario correctly to get them to this point. One final step and Minato and Niko would live happily ever after. He pulled out a few tissues from the box resting beside him on the velvet sofa and patted his eyes dry. He didn't want to miss a single second of this momentous occasion. His thumb hovered over the action button ready to select, yes.

At that exact moment, his cellphone rang, startling him to drop the controller. He watched in horror as No was selected. All his careful hours of strategizing gone to waste. He sighed as he watched Niko later introduce Minato to her fiancé.

Glancing at the caller ID of his phone, he smirked, no longer upset about the outcome of his game. He had a feeling that this would be more entertaining.

"Takarada," he answered gruffly.

"Boss, it's me. Sorry to wake you, but it's urgent."

Lory's smirk morphed into a full-blown Cheshire Cat smile. Kuon.

"Ren, my boy, I was starting to think you've forgotten about your life here and decided to take up permanent residence in America. Why the call all of a sudden?"

"I fucked up," Ren confessed on the other end of the line.

"Ohhhhh," Lory narrowed his eyes. For Kuon to come forth and call him, he had to be desperate. "How is Morimoto-kun?" The president asked as he casually lit a cigar getting comfortable to hear this juicy story.

They had been the center of gossip this past week and after Kyoko's impromptu performance, Matsushima, Sawara, and Linh have been fielding calls from those interested in the couple. Lory grabbed his tablet and opened the email he had received from the editor of a popular Japanese magazine expecting Ren to bring up its contents.

"She's fine for now, but I need your help."

Before Lory could respond to the actor's plea, a flurry of lace and frills landed on top. "Oomph!" The president grunted as the air rushed out of his lungs.

"Maria!" Lory gasped, discarding his cigar then clutching his midsection and rubbing his bruised ribs once she moved off of him.

"Grandpa, is that Ren-sama? Can I talk to him, please? Pretty please?" The little girl pleaded, bouncing on the sofa beside him.

Lory glanced out of the large bay windows. The sun had barely risen above the horizon. What was she doing awake? More importantly, how did she know he was talking to Ren?

"Maria, I'm on a business call," Lory admonished his granddaughter with a disapproving frown.

"It's okay, I would love to say hi to Maria."

"A quick hello, Maria," Lory sighed and switched the phone over to speaker mode.

"Yay," Maria squealed snatching the phone, "Ren-sama?" The little girl asked shyly.

"Maria-chan, how are you? I hope you are being a good girl for your grandfather."

"Maria-chan is always a good girl," she replied proudly.

Lory scoffed. His granddaughter had been at the top of her game these past few days. With the couple making waves in America, there had been many envious people coming out of the woodwork. Maria made it her mission to punish these individuals as she saw fit, pulling her usual pranks. A significant amount of his time was spent with human resources to smooth out the mishaps.

"That's good. Kyoko will be so glad to hear it."

"Is Onee-sama not there with you? I wanted to congratulate her on her beautiful performance."

"I'm afraid not. She's spending the day with Mrs. Hizuri. I will gladly pass along your congratulations when I meet her again."

"Thank you, Ren-sama. Maria is very happy she could hear your voice again."

"It's good to hear Maria-chan is doing well. We'll be home in a few days. It would be so nice to see you when we return. What do you think about another sleepover?"

"Do you mean it?" Maria squealed in delight. Lory smiled adoringly at his granddaughter. He knew she had been missing her friends dearly; hence, the rampage she was running at the agency. It was kind of them to spend time with her.

"Maria-chan would be doing me a huge favor. I have a lot of late nights coming up. It would be a relief knowing that Kyoko would be in your care for one of those nights. She would be excited to have you over."

"Ren-sama, I lied," she confessed dejectedly. Lory's eyes widened then smiled at her admission. As the head of the company, granddaughter or not, he couldn't condone her behavior.

"Maria-chan has not been a good girl. I've caused trouble for Grandpa at work."

Ren chuckled on the other end of the line. "I'm sure it was for a just cause."

Maria nodded vigorously as if Ren could see her. "They were green with envy over my Onee-sama and said some rude things. Maria couldn't just let their erroneous behavior go unpunished."

"While I appreciate you defending Kyoko's honor, please promise you won't get yourself into trouble for our sake again, okay?"

"Okay," Maria replied meekly. "I promise. I'm returning the phone to grandpa. Please tell Onee-sama I said hello."

"I will Maria-chan, take care. We'll see you soon."

"Yes! Take care Ren-sama! Bye-bye."

"Bye Maria-chan."

"Thank you, Grandpa." Maria handed over the phone and kissed Lory on the cheek. He smiled after her, watching her skip out of the room and closing the door behind her to ensure his privacy. Lory turned off the speakerphone setting and put the phone to his ear.

"Thank you, Ren," Lory said gratefully. It meant a lot to him that the young couple was so patient and kind to his granddaughter, even though she could be a handful.

"As you were saying, how can I help you?"

Lory smiled again as the silence dragged on for several seconds. Whatever the boy needed, he was now hesitating to tell him. He heard the long shaky breath the actor took before speaking.

"It's not a problem. Maria-chan is a good girl."

"Yes, now what can I do for you?"

I need your help deleting a video of the compromising sort."

The rumble in his chest started low with only a few guffaws escaping from his lips. The more Lory thought about what this compromising video could possibly contain, the more boisterous the laugh escaped from between his lips. Soon he was full-on laughing with tears pricking the corners of his eyes. Lory used his free hand to wrap around his midsection in an attempt to withhold his laughter.

"Are you through?" Ren growled into his ear, but it took Lory another minute to contain himself.

"It's good to know you aren't boring anymore," Lory finally spoke after he got his laughter under control.

Ren groaned, making Lory chuckle.

"You must be in a real bind if Yuki-kun can't figure out a solution."

"Yukihito doesn't know about it and I'd prefer for it to stay that way. Can you help; otherwise, I will have no choice but to contact my last resort, which I don't want to do. Kyoko and I are quite fond of all my appendages."

Lory's eyes widened as a resounding smack came across the line.

"Ow, Kuu," Ren exclaimed on his end.

"I'm serious! Kyoko's father and the Taisho would literally chop me up into little pieces if this gets out," Ren whined.

"Fufufufufufufu," Lory chuckled as he stroked his goatee. Kuu? They were speaking in Japanese, but still being cautious on their end about their relationship. He was almost tempted to deny the boy just to see the results of this mishap, but the idea of hurting his actors publicly for his personal entertainment did not sit well with him.

"It's still not funny, Boss. If you aren't going to help I'll take my chances with Tadashi-san. I'll deal with the consequences later as long as Kyoko is safe," Ren grumbled.

"Bah! Don't be such a martyr," Lory teased, earning himself another growl from the actor. Lory could practically imagine the scowl on Ren's face on the other end of the line. He was excited to see how this trip home had changed him for the better.

"Give me a second." Lory looked at the clock on his phone. Ruto should have returned from training by now. He picked up the house phone resting on the table beside the couch and dialed Ruto's quarters. It was tasks like these where his right-hand man's skills shone brilliantly. Ruto would welcome the challenge. Lately, he had been regulated to background investigative work due to the lack of action. In Kyoko's case, he merely stepped back and let her father handle things his way. Lory thought it would be the perfect bonding experience for the father-daughter duo and he was right as always.

"Good morning, Ruto, I require your computer services. Please come to my study as soon as you are available."

"Yes, sir," Ruto replied and ended the call.

Lory returned to the call on his cellphone. "Ruto will be along shortly," he informed Ren. "In the meantime, care to explain the issue?" Before Ren could begin, his trusty assistant was knocking and entering the room with a laptop tucked under his arm. Lory had to smile at the man's affinity for promptness.

"Ruto is here. I'm switching to speakerphone, so you could explain."

"Hello, Tsuruga-san," Ruto greeted. Lory waved him to sit on the sofa and use the coffee table.

"Ruto-san," Ren replied, relief evident in his voice. "Thank you so much."

"It's my pleasure. How can I help?"

"Without going into detail, I need to delete footage from a security server without alerting the company. Can you do it?"

Lory didn't push for details. He made a mental note to meet with LME's Human Resource director later. It seems his favorite couple needed some mandatory training. He had a pretty good idea of what was in the video without the boy's confession. Lory had resigned long ago that he lost the bet to Yashiro. The odds were against him from the get-go, but he took the bet anyway for the thrill of it. His loss would ensure their manager took a long overdue vacation.

"Of course, Tsuruga-san. I will need some basic account information."

"Thank you. I'm putting you on speaker and handing the call over to Damian Bird. He's the owner of the account."

Lory perked up at the name. The account owner? Hmmm.

"Hello, this is Damian," the American man introduced himself in English.

Lory and Ruto switched to English to communicate with Damian as they introduced themselves.

"Mr. Bird, all I need from you is the company name and account number," Ruto instructed. "I promise I will not abuse your information."

Damian chuckled over the speaker. "I didn't think you would. Thank you for the assurance, and please call me Damian."

While Ruto took care of the issue, Lory picked up his tablet to look at the email again. The editor had sent him a copy of tomorrow's online article as a professional courtesy. There was nothing he could do at this point since many people in that bar witnessed Kyoko leap into her beau's arms and get smothered by his kisses. Those images were all over the internet already, but this video of them was new. It didn't take him long to realize he was watching the footage from a recorded security monitor.

He scrolled through the other pictures to be sure his hunch was correct before addressing the other party on the phone.

"Damian, this is Lory. I have a question for you."

"I'm here Lory, ask away."

"Do you have a camera in your office?"

…

Ren paused in his pacing and stared at the phone after hearing the president's question. Why?

Damian looked at him with eyebrows raised before leaning closer to the phone. "I do."

"Could you please humor me and review last night's footage of your office around 23:11?"

"What's this about Boss?" Ren asked nervously, crowding behind Damian and Tina's chair.

"A hunch," Lory replied without further explanation.

Kuu put down the bar nuts he was munching on after he ran out of pizza and settled beside him to look at the monitor.

"It's camera number 5," Tina told Damian as she consulted a sheet in front of her. Damian ran through the motions of opening the video and setting it back to the time Lory had suggested then hit play.

For the first few seconds, they were watching an empty office until a woman entered. She opened Damian's drawer and removed a metal box which she opened with a key. The box blocked what she was doing but Ren could only assume it was a cash box.

"That's Caroline, she's a server here. Adam probably asked her to get some change for the bar," Damian said as they continued to watch her. Caroline closed the box with cash in hand and did a double-take as she was walking out of the office. Something on the monitors caught her eye because she started to laugh. Ren cringed as the female server pulled out her phone and pointed it to the screen for several seconds before leaving with a huge grin on her face.

"Fuck!" Ren angrily stomped over to the screens to figure out what she was looking at. He took his time examining every screen and stopped on the one with a familiar hallway. That's where we kissed. Ren tried to think where his hands were during their mini makeout session. Her ass probably. All rational thought tended to fly out the window whenever he locked lips with his cute girlfriend. A quick look at the remaining screens confirmed that none of them displayed the inside of the parking lot.

"I take it from Ren's reaction that you found something," Lory queried.

"How did you know about this, Boss?" Kuu questioned his long-time friend.

"An editor sent me a video. They plan to release it."

Ren looked imploringly at Kuu. "Could you send that video to me?"

"Done!" Lory told them, a moment later Kuu's phone pinged.

The veteran actor handed his phone over to Ren immediately. "I can't watch it," Kuu told him, shaking his head.

"It needs a passcode?" Ren said impatiently.

"It's my son's birthday," Kuu smiled sheepishly.

Tina gasped while Damian quietly whispered. "See, I'm not the only one."

"Could you?" Ren insisted, handing him back the phone. He wasn't supposed to know Kuon's birthday and he felt like shit now knowing that his dad had thought of him every single time he used his phone.

"Oh yeah, right. Sorry," Kuu grabbed the phone and punched in the numbers then handed it back quickly.

Ren found the email Lory sent and apprehensively opened the video. He chuckled, relief flooding his body he could almost cry. It was a short snippet of their passionate kiss in the hallway. His hands may have strayed under her coat to tease the smooth flesh of her back, but that was it.

"Are we good?" Kuu asked staring at him with concern. Tina and Damian also looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah, it's not that bad." His face probably reflected the same look of relief on his dad's and friends' faces. It was good to know that Damian was still a nice guy. He knew Tina would be in good hands.

"Boss, are you still there?"

"I'm here."

"Is this being released in Japan?"

"I'm afraid so. I could try to squash the video but the images are another story. They're all over the internet already."

"It's fine. Everyone knows we're together." Hopefully, by the time we get back to Japan things would have died down.

"Takarada-sama, it's done," Ruto announced reverting to speaking in Japanese.

"Ruto has completed the task. There should be no issue in the future."

"Thank you, Ruto-san. I appreciate your help with this."

"You're welcome, Tsuruga-san."

"Thanks, Boss!"

"No problem. Take care, everyone," Lory replied in English.

After everyone said their farewells, Lory took one more parting shot at him, "Oh, one more thing Ren.

"Yes?" he answered.

"You owe me," Lory chuckled and hung up.

A shiver ran down Ren's spine as the president's words hung ominously in the room.

"Why do I feel like you just made a deal with the Devil?" Tina asked shaking her body to get rid of the feeling.

"Because I think I just did," Ren sighed. He would worry about what the president had in store for him once he returned to Japan. The bottom line was that he didn't have to beg for Tadashi's forgiveness. The thought of bypassing Kyoko's father and going straight to Sota as a businessman did cross his mind, but it was too risky. Sota was Tadashi's friend. He decided Lory was his best bet to help clean up his mess. He most likely would regret it later.

"I'm sorry for the trouble," Damian apologized standing from his seat. "I checked the rest of the tape and made sure no one else looked at the monitors last night. I can't believe she did that."

"I should be the one apologizing for all the trouble I've caused," Ren countered.

Damian laughed, "I was young once. I know how it is."

Tina rolled her eyes.

"Let me know if there's anything I could do to return the favor. I don't have a card on me, but Tina has my number."

Damian nodded appreciatively.

"Well, now that my work here is done, I have to go. Some impressive ladies are expecting me," Tina announced as she shoved on her coat.

"Thank you, Tina," Ren smiled at her.

"Oh, you're still in trouble, buster! You better tell Kyoko about this! You may think you're protecting her, but she'll be hurt if she finds out later."

Ren winced. He had every intention of telling her...tomorrow.

AN: Oof I didn't realize it was so short when I found a stopping point...I hope I didn't disappoint you all too much for not getting Daddy T involved (don't worry, he will still have words with the boy). Kyoko is quite fond of Kuon's ahem appendages so I couldn't do her dirty like that...XD. Plus, I think Ruto is fricken amazing! I'd love to hear any ideas on how Ren should owe Lory? The more embarrassing the better...lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!

BTW, I've never played an otome game before so I'm not even sure if the first part of the story even works...lol. Pros, feel free to correct me!

Thank you for always reading and for the reviews you guys left on the last chapter. I appreciate it!

Until next time, ja ne! ^_^