BACKING OFF.
The next morning, Yashiro arrived at LME to pick up Ren. Unsurprisingly, Takarada and the Heel's new stylist, Jelly woods was also there.
They were all talking about Kyoko. Turned out, her shoot was cancelled at the last moment because of some scheduling issues, which was why she decided to go to school instead.
"She did?" The manager raised his brows at Ren. "Shouldn't she have taken the day off and relaxed? I mean staying in character full time must be exhausting. For the both of you."
Ren nodded. "It is. The President said the same thing but she insisted on going to school since her exams are near."
"Well, enough chitchat. Or we'll be late for your shoot. I booked you a commercial gig for today at the TBM studio."
"Thanks." As the two men started to leave, the President, who had been busily talking on his phone motioned for them to wait.
After he hung up Ren asked, "What is it?"
"I had been checking up with Swara to know if there are any managers available," Takarada answered. "There aren't any. Looks like I'll have to find one myself."
"Why?"
"For Mogami of course. I realize how hectic her schedule is becoming But I'll have to search for a manager by myself considering how much potential she has."
"About time," Ren smiled. "Good luck with that."
Yashiro glanced at his wrist watch. "Ren, we should get going now."
The bell rang the moment Kyoko managed to get past the treshold of her classroom. Made it in time! She panted.
"You!" A familiar voice of one of her classmates cut through the air like an arrow with apparent resentment. "Why did you have to show up?"
It was Mimori Nakamura. The actress who played the second angel in Sho's video.
Both girls were quite surprised when they first found out that they were in the same school as well as the same class, but luckily they never had to see much of each other since the attendance wasn't compulsory and both of them being professional actresses only showed up to school every once in a blue moon. But whenever they did run into each other, Kyoko would always try to be polite while the latter would always go out of her way to ignore her.
Today, however, was an exception. Because Mimori was the first one to initiate conversation, and her glare was at its maximum fury.
"Huh?" Kyoko frowned, wondering if spending so much time with Sho had finally taken a toll on Mimori and she had finally gone bonkers.
With a final grunt, Mimori stalked away, too angry to talk or to tolerate her biggest rival.
What's up with her? Kyoko thought, scratching her head. Shrugging obliviously, she took her seat.
As the class began, instead of being able to focus on the subject, Kyoko's thought would always wander back to Ren. She was so curious to know about his issues that she almost always found herself trying to decipher the President's words.
That guy is fighting a battle within himself.
The President must have been speaking figuratively, but what did that mean? She thought.
She remembered how Ren had been so much better today compared to yesterday. She didn't exactly get a chance to talk to him without being in character after the accident since he locked himself in the bathroom until the Director came. Surprisingly, after the Director's visit, he seemed to be in a much better mood. He was constantly smiling and joking. Even today as well.
After what happened yesterday, Kyoko wondered how he was able to smile like that? She knew she couldn't if she were in his place.
Was it even a real smile? It wasn't the perfect signature one, but it didn't seem quite real either.
All of a sudden, Ren's words from the time when she talked to him as Bo rang in her mind: Falling in love, it's just not an option for me. Specially now. He had said something around those lines when he told her about that high school mystery girl he was so much in love with but wasn't ready to admit it.
The question was, why would a person, specially someone as popular as him, would reject love and choose to be alone. Was he betrayed by someone just like her?
No, that's impossible. No sane girl in the world could have Ren and not be satisfied. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the subject wasn't love itself when he said that. What it seemed like to her was that Ren was implying back then that he didn't deserve to be with the person he loved, as if he wasn't entitled to happiness or something.
Now that she thought about it, Ren had always seemed like a self reproachful person to her. The way he was so dedicated and hard-working, it was like he didn't care about his personal preferences at all. Almost as if he was only trying to distract himself from something.
What was it that the Director said triggered him before the accident? Murasame had made fun of his race. But Kyoko could never imagine it to be Ren's personal issue. It must be the other thing.
Thinking back, Kyoko remembered, that the only other option was when Murasame called him a real BJ, a mindless murderer.
So If that were to be the trigger, then that would mean Ren might be responsible for hurting someone in the past?
Her mind remained engrossed in coming up with various plausible reasons, but she discarded almost all of them since they all seemed too unlikely. Only after the bell rang and the teacher took his leave did she realize that she didn't listen to a single thing he was saying.
Before she could start panicking, the familiar squeal of a fangirl captured her attention. It was some girl talking to Mimori. They were both gushing and drooling all over a picture of a Sho.
Tsk! Tsk! Kyoko's made a face. I used to be like them. She couldn't help but sympathize with those poor souls and hope for the curtains to be lifted from their eyes.
"Working overtime is so tiring!" One of the men groaned to his colleague.
"Here!" The younger colleague smiled. "This will refresh you." He handed him a bottle of a soft drink. "Calpis. It's the best carbonated drink you've ever tasted."
Taking a sip, the man chugged down the whole drink not being able to stop himself. After he was finished, his face broke into a grin. "You were right! This is delicious!"
"Cut!" The Director signalled thumbs up at the two actors, both Ren and Kijima relaxed. The latter's manager came forward to hand his client a towel. But Yashiro was too engrossed in his thoughts to remember.
Unlike usual, when Ren would only smile and be polite when he had to, he was going out of his way today to socialize and even crack jokes. It was his smile which bothered him. Even though it wasn't the signature smile, the manager guessed it to be fake. He had been worried about it since morning.
Whatever it was that was bothering Ren made him try so hard to appear normal that he was overdoing it. Anyone who knew him even a little better could immediately guess that something was up.
However, the manager didn't bother to ask knowing Ren would never answer straightforwardly.
Once again, he heard Ren laugh aloud at some joke Kijima cracked, and the manager instinctively shuddered.
As he joined the two actors, he realized that they were smiling over a patch of half burnt cookies which Kijima was eating. Turned out some kid, who was a fan of Kijima, had baked them and then had sent them to him. The reason they were chuckling was because the cookies were all shaped like animals and were one of the most adorable things they had seen.
Even Yashiro was awed, and couldn't help a smile despite his worries.
As they marvelled over this creative youngster, Kijima clicked a picture of the cookies from his phone and sent it to someone. "I wonder what she'll say about them."
"Another girlfriend?" Yashiro teased.
"Nah. It's just Kyoko."
Ren and Yashiro exchange a look in which they were both caught off guard.
"They just remind me of her," Kijima chuckled.
"So you two are texting now?" Ren asked casually.
"Since the party. I thought she wasn't interested in me, but when I texted her she always texted me back. Then I realized she's fairly young, so I should try again, but start things slow this time. Who knows? It might work."
Meanwhile, Kyoko was having lunch at her school when she got the text. It had always been one of her dreams to have a pen pal from whom she could exchange texts like that. Unfortunately, Moko hated texting unless it was absolutely necessary.
Kijima wasn't exactly the ideal candidate for a penpal, but he was all she got. Sometimes, she wondered his texts were a little too frequent, but she always replied since he was one of her seniors. Putting her burger down, she began to type.
Back at the commercial set, a beep made Kijima smirk. "Ha! She replied."
So fast! Yashiro was tempted to slap his forehead. He wondered how Kyoko being sharp in general was so naive when it came to men.
"This girl," Kijima chuckled, staring into the screen. "She uses so many emojis!"
Yashiro felt something rise in his throat. He gulped, glancing at Ren. His client wasn't going through the trouble of plastering a smile anymore. Infact, his anger was quite apparent thanks to the arctic glint in his now cold eyes. Fortunately, it was only for a moment as he immediately put up the facade of his shell around his face making it indifferent as usual.
Sho was having a quick power nap on the couch, while his manager was getting ready for her bath. All of a sudden his phone beeped. Sho instantly woke up, and it beeped again.
After one quick glance at the screen, he raised from the couch and put on a long coat before heading to the door.
"Sho, don't go out!" Shouko called after him. "We have to leave for music haven in about an hour or so."
He didn't stop. "I'll be back before that."
The manager knowing it was no use to protest let out a sigh. "Well, at least lemme know where you're going?"
"School," he barged out, leaving Shouko starting after him with shell shocked eyes.
Did I even hear him right? She wondered. He couldn't be going there to attend classes. He has never attended a single class since he's been enrolled. Then what?
She remembered Mimori mentioning this morning that she was going to school as well. But it seemed too unlikely for Sho to go there just to meet her. Specially since he had been in such a bad mood since last night after he accidentally stumbled upon that interview of Kyoko.
Suddenly, the pieces connected and it all made sense. Kyoko! Of course! The manager slapped her forhead.
After such a long day, the bell finally rang and Kyoko stretched herself, getting ready to leave from school.
As she was about to exit, she spotted a tall guy in a long coat waiting at the main entrance of the building. Because of his cap and his big ugly sunglasses, not a single person recognised him, or bothered to pay attention to him, but Kyoko would've known him from a mile away. After all, she had spent so much times replicating that physique while sewing those voodoo dolls, just for the sake of cursing him eternally to the deepest fiery pits of hell.
What the hell is he doing here? She immediately turned one eighty before he saw her. After the stunt he had pulled on Valentine's day, she didn't wanna be within ten feet of him. Thankfully, there was a back door which she could use to leave without having to face her nemesis.
After running halfway through the school, Kyoko finally reached the back gate. The moment she stepped outside, someone blocked her path. "Not so fast!" Mimori spread out her arms, trying to stop her. "He was right. You did try to sneak away from the back door."
"What do you want?" Kyoko could not keep the frustration from her tone.
"As much I hate your entire existence, I can't let you go."
Sensing what was coming, Kyoko tried to break into a sprint but Mimori was faster. She grabbed her arm and clung to her like a kid would clung to his mother at a toy store, pulling her with all of her weight.
"What is wrong with you? Let go!" Instead of answering her, Mimori took out her cellphone and called someone while holding on to Kyoko's arm from the other hand.
"Yes, I got her," she muttered into the phone. "Now get here!" Kyoko didn't even have to guess who it could be when Sho materialized. His cap and glasses gone now.
"Thanks," he nodded to Mimori.
"I didn't do it for free!" She reminded him coolly. "You're really gonna break things off with her this time, right? Then you'll have to give me my reward."
"Yes, yes, I remember." He rolled his eyes. "One date."
"And?"
"And a kiss."
Kyoko snorted in disgust. She wasn't surprised that this cheapskate was using this poor and stupid girl to do his dirty work and then letting her off with a stupid kiss! Remembering her own past, she was almost moved to tears evoking pathos for her poor classmate.
"Not just a peck," Mimori blurted out. "A full kiss! You said that it would be so sexy that it would melt my brain."
Is this girl dense? Kyoko gasped. Her brain is already so slow, if it melts even more there would be nothing left!
"Sure," he said. "But later. You're manager is waiting by the front gate. You should go."
Finally letting go of Kyoko, Miomri left. As Kyoko tried to make a run for it again, Sho grabbed her wrist. He snapped his fingers and his driver drove his black SUV near them.
"Get in. I wanna talk."
"No chance!" Kyoko spat. "If you've got something to say, you can say it here."
"The choice is yours," Sho shrugged, pointing behind her at a large group of students, probably more than a dozen, making their way towards the back gate. "If you don't mind being seen with me and are okay with my fans here constantly pestering whenever you come to school, then sure. We can talk here. Who knows? After they realize that you're the actress in Dark Moon, they might even strat digging more into our pasts."
Weighing her options, Kyoko finally gave in with a grunt and got into the car.
"Yeah. We'll be there." Yashiro hung up the phone just as Ren came out of the dressing room with his usual clothes on. They were getting ready to leave as the commercial gig was finally over.
"Who were you talking to?" Ren asked curiously.
"It was from the agency. Some director has approached you for a new project. Since Dark Moon isn't renewing for a second season anytime soon, I thought we should hear him out."
"Fine. When do we see him?"
"Tonight. I've already said yes to dinner."
"Let's leave then."
"No, the director wanted to talk to us before we left. He asked us to wait in the car. Shouldn't take more then ten minutes, I guess."
As they were about to get into the elevator, they saw Kijima on the other side of the door. "You didn't leave yet?" The actor raised his brows.
"We're waiting for the director," Ren answered politely. Any sign of his earlier anger or hostility was gone.
"Wanna grab drinks after that?"
"No, I have an important dinner meeting. Maybe another time."
"Sure. Anyway Ren," he hesitated. "Do you happen to know Kyoko's birthdate?"
Yashiro cocked his head. You're still on the same page? Get a hint, man! The manager silently prayed Ren wouldn't get angry again.
"Yeah," Ren smiled politely, to his surprise. "If I remember correctly it was December 25th."
"On Christmas day! Wow! Even better for me!" Kijima chuckled. "You see I was planning on surprising her. This way, she wouldn't be able to say no to any presents."
Yashiro felt the sudden urge to gag this man. Moreover, he was wondering why Ren would tell him the birthdate so easily. He could have pretended not to know and it would have been suspicious at all. Infact, it was more suspicious this way that Ren knew it. Even Kijima noticed this.
"I'm surprised Ren." He said. "Usually, whenever I ask you anything about the ladies, you're so clueless. I really didn't expect you to know. I only asked you as a last resort since I couldn't find it from anyone else."
"Well, because Kyoko's different. I think I'm much closer to her."
"You're close to Kyoko?" Kijima raised his brow, not believing him. "You two were mostly together at the Dark Moon set, but I always assumed the reason to be you two being in the same agency and all. I thought it was only a professional thing."
"Well, it's not. We know each other a lot better than that."
"Is that so?" Kijima smirked. "You were so surprised when you found out that she likes to use so many emojis. That means you two don't even text."
"You're right, we don't." His lips curved into a lopsided smile. "But that's because we don't need to. Whenever I have to talk to her, I prefer to hear the sound of her voice instead of exchanging some lame texts. So I just call her."
Ren was the type of person who always preferred to hide his feelings from others and put on a facade in front of people. Yashiro was so used to this that when he heard the evident challenge in the tone of his voice, he was beyond surprised. He was pretty sure Ren had intended it to be this way. Since he probably wanted to let Kijima know in a precise way to back off.
After being so oblivious, Kijima this time definitely got the hint, as his jaw was hanging from the sudden realization. So Ren is into her too?