REN'S SLIP UP
I've never felt so sentimentally cornered before, Kyoko thought with a sigh, running the events from last night in her head over and over again. She was making breakfast as Setsu for her brother while Cain took a shower, however she couldn't manage to maintain her character with her thoughts running as they were and her mind going haywire.
I wish the world would end before he makes it out of the shower, she thought. Or if aliens want to invade the earth, now would be a good time to attack. Or maybe we could be kidnapped by evil witches who'd erase our memories for some reason. Anything is fine as long as I don't have to face him again after that! Whatever that was!
She unintentionally traced a finger on her lips, remembering all unholy things they were up to, and all that new places they had explored last night. The colour once again returned to her skin and she squeezed her eyes shut.
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the beep of the oven. Breakfast was ready. Cain would be out soon as well. She needed to get in character.
Okay, she sighed. Remember, I'm Setsuka. Outlaw. Cool as ice. My brother is everything to me, the rest can go to hell for all I care. Raising her fist to her face, she snapped a finger and she was Setsu.
Glancing at her wrist watch, the young translator realised that they were already two hours late for the shoot. Something which would have freaked out Kyoko to the point of her losing her mind, but Setsu wasn't even fazed.
Setting the breakfast for two on the small dining table, she knocked on the bathroom door. "Brother? How long are you gonna take? Food's ready."
"Coming." His response echoed out, sending chills down Kyoko's back. She could still not lose herself completely in the character as the prospect of facing Ren still scared her.
She remembered the dream she had last night. It accurately summed up her entire dilemma. She was standing on the edge of a cliff with a band of thugs surrounding her on one side and a bottomless pit on the other.
The thugs were harassing her. They demanded that she exposed her deepest darkest secret which was hidden well within her heart, or else they'll push her down.
She had to choose. On one hand, she didn't want an early death, but on the other hand, death would probably be much better that letting anyone know about what she so desperately wanted to hide.
Before she could replay the entire dream and get to the end, which still scared her, the bathroom door clicked open.
Takarada was busy reading the sequel of his current favorite novel series when his phone rang. He wasn't expecting any important calls. With a frustrated sigh, he put down the book on his office table and glanced at the screen.
Jelly? He frowned. It must be something important, his instincts told him. He answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hello darling!" Jelly's overzealous and squeaky voice cut through the air. "What were you up to?"
"Jelly, I'd love to talk but I'm quite busy today. So if it isn't anything important..."
"Oh no, it is. Remember you asked me to let you know if I noticed anything odd about Ren?"
The President's attention was undivided now. He took his reading glasses off and put them on the table. "Yes. Go on."
"Well, last night when I was doing his makeup, he was acting very unusual. Even strange if I might say."
"How strange are we talking?"
"For starters, he was already in character which was certainly very unusual. Besides, he seemed really... frustrated? I don't know. And pissed at something. I tried asking him what was wrong but he never answered."
"Anything else?"
"He also looked quite tired. Not like he had a long day or something. More like as if he was mentally exhausted. To be honest, I'm really worried about him."
"I'm sure it's nothing, J." Takarada smiled. "You don't have to worry."
"I think you should worry a bit more," she scolded him. "You already know Ren is always pushing himself beyond the limit. And now this whole Cain and BJ dual act thing, it must be tiring him down. If this keeps up, he's bound to mess up, and that could reveal BJ's true identity and kill the whole surprise."
He sighed. "Fine. I'll check up on him. But I'm sure it's nothing, so don't concern yourself. Thanks for letting me know." The was a pause. "And Jelly, if anything else happens, let me know, okay?"
"Of course."
Hanging up, he placed the phone on the table and instead of picking up his book again, he massaged his temples, letting out a long exaggerated sigh. It was truly concerning if Ren wasn't even bothering to use that fake smile of his to hide his true feelings anymore. He must have been really exhausted.
I really wanted him to do this on his own. It dosen't feel right for me to be lending him a hand now when he's so close, specially since this whole time he wanted to do it alone.
He raised up. But I guess there's no choice. Since he would definitely never ask for help on his own no matter much how he needed it.
The Director tried to stall the staff as long as he could, to make them wait for the Heels, but Murasame wasn't taking it anymore. He was not only pissed off beyond help, but he also got everyone else hyped up as well about having to wait for their slacking foreigner costar who thought he was too good for them.
Konoe managed to cool down the lead actor in his movie, but by the end of the two hours, everyone was raving mad for being kept waiting. And he wasn't able to keep the morale up with the whole team rebelling against him for being too soft on the English bloke. Just as things were getting too out of control for him to manage, thankfully, the Heels appeared. Cain was in his standard BJ costume, while Setsuka wore another of her classy goth leather outfit and long boots.
The Director sighed with relief along with everyone else as he was about to start the shoot at last, but Murasame was still too mad to contain his anger. Just like every other time, he started thundering down on Cain with the most brutal words he could conjure in order to pick a fight with him.
The Director, afraid to lose the rest of the day in the squabble was about to intervene when he noticed Cain was not even paying any attention to Murasame much less fight back. In turn, the lead star of the movie got even more frustrated.
When he realized his words weren't having the desired affect, not provoking Cain at all, mincing his teeth Murasame boldly breeched the same subject again which had gotten Cain so worked up last time that it ended with him trying to choke the life out of Murasame.
"You bastard! I don't know what you're trying to prove by looking down on us, but the fact won't change that you're part Japanese as well!"
Konoe gasped silently, shooting Cain a concerned glance, wondering if Murasame had pushed his buttons again, and the two would end up at each other's throats like last time. Fortunately, Cain still didn't even bother glancing at him. Which riled Murasame even more.
"So you're just gonna ignore me," he snorted. "That proves it! You've got no sentiments at all! You're no less than a real life BJ! After you'll be gone, no one will even remember the real you! BJ is all you would be known for here!"
All of a sudden, silence stretched through the bustling studio and the air went thick with tension. Murasame had once again gone too far, and they were all half-expecting and half-dreading a similar outcome just like last time. With the entire crew staring starkly in anticipation at the foreign actor, even the faint clatter noices in the distance faded away reigning total silence.
Cain finally looked up from the script, sending shivers down most of onlookers. Instead of snapping into a fit, the englishman smirked at his costar. "A real life BJ, eh? That's the biggest praise that I could receive. To me it's more unbearable if people forget the roles I played instead of my real name."
The unusually calm and reasonable reply left Murasame along with everyone else at a loss of words. Most of the crew members were still holding their breaths as if Cain could still snap at any moment. But that never happened. Instead, he turned to his sister and gave her a puzzled look. "These japanese people are really annoying. When they get mad at someone, they complement him. So weird."
"I wasn't complementing you!" Murasame barked, but no one paid attention to him because almost everyone ended up chuckling silently because of what Cain said. With the tension released, the shoot began at last.
When the cast took a break, the leading actress of the movie, Manaka went out to buy drinks for everyone from the vending machine. On her way, she accidentally ran into the person she feared the most, Cain Heel.
Being alone with the foreigner in the empty hallway with not another soul in sight, Manaka felt a cold sensation in the pit of her stomach and the colour drained from her face.
Cain paid her no attention and proceeded towards the vending machine, until she accidentally dropped her drinks. The crashing sound of the cans was followed by a little startled shreik when Manaka noticed Cain changing his direction and instead making his way towards her now.
Even though it would be inordinary for Cain to help someone out, Ren couldn't help himself. He almost reflexively reached for the drinks below to help the girl, and only after he saw the evident fear in her eyes did he realize his obvious blunder. It was too late to back out now. He offered her the cans, which she accepted hesitantly. But the way she was steering clear of him, avoiding him like the plague, it almost made Ren laugh. It was so oddly amusing to him that it was all he could do to not crack up right then and there.
Though he managed to hold his chuckles in, he still ended up smiling at the girl, ans her eyes turned wide at the sight of his genuine, angelic smile, as if it was the most unexpected thing she had ever seen.
Manaka blushed, but behind her flustered expression, there was a bit of hesitation and fear still lingering, as if she was not sure whether he was being genuinely nice or if it was a trap to get her defenses down.
An unexpected wave of sympathy and pathos washed over Ren for that girl and before he could stop himself, or even realize he was supposed to maintain his character, he offered her his hand as a sign of good faith.
Her eyes because guarded again. She didn't shake it. So instead, Ren moved his hand up and stroked her head once in a playful way. He was never sure why he did it when he knew he was supposed to make that girl fear him, but watching her get so scared reminded her of Kyoko, and he couldn't keep up the act.
Maybe the President had been right. Maybe he was still not that good of an actor to be ready for the role of BJ. Maybe he just needed a break from being continuously mean, and he was too soft to play Cain.
Whatever the reason was, he succeed in getting the trust of the girl, as she blushed up to the roots of her hair.
Realizing how he was making problems for his own self, Ren snapped back into his character before he would make things even worse and walked away.
"I'm so sorry! I swear to you, it'll never happen again!" Kyoko broke character the minute she stepped into the privacy of Cain's dressing room and apologized to the Director over and over. "I tried to get him on time but there was nothing I could do! Two hours is too much! I'm sorry!"
"Hey, hey, relax! It's okay! I know you two can't break character under any circumstances. Infact, it's safer that you don't," the Director replied. "There's no need to apologise. Please get back in character. Even though no one dares to approach this room, it'll be a problem if someone sees you like this."
"Right," Kyoko stiffened, clearing her throat.
"Anyway, it was a good development in Cain Heel's character today. He gets mad when someone makes him wait, but he doesn't care about making others wait for him A terrific image Ren's building of him," the Director patted her shoulder. "You too. Both of you are doing a perfect job! Even though for a second I was worried about Murasame when he tried to provoke Cain again, but looks like Ren has everything under control."
His words bought the memory from last night pop into Kyoko's mind. In return, I'll make you a promise. I'll never disappoint you again like I did tonight. Kyoko smiled. "He sure does."
She had suspected Ren was actually talking about maintaining his character properly and not let his inner demons get in the way of work. Turned out she was right all along. As relieved as she was about her fear not becoming a reality and Ren not fading away, she couldn't help but be curious about him. Something seemed different about him since last night. Almost as if he had come to terms with whatever he was dealing with. I wonder what has changed.
"Um, Kyoko... if you don't mind my asking..." The Director snapped her out of her thoughts. He was looking at her strangely. He didn't go on.
"What? What do you wanna ask?"
His cheeks tinged red, as he struggled to form words to no avail. Kyoko could see his hesitation. He opened his mouth, but without saying anything closed it back again.
"What?" She urged him.
"Um... Nevermind. It's not anything important." He wiped his face with a handkerchief. "I should get going."
Outside the Heels' dressing room, Konoe let out a sigh. As curious as he was to know about that thing, he couldn't manage to ask Kyoko about it. How could he? She was still underage!
He had heard a few stylists gossipping among themselves about it this morning. As first he didn't believe them, but when he walked in on Cain while he was getting his makeup done, he saw that thing with his own eyes. A big bright hickey right on his neck. He had gasped, but even if Cain heard him or the other gossipers, he didn't care. He wasn't even trying to hide it.
"These damned foreigners! Wow!" One of the stylist chuckled aloud once Cain had left. "They find to sneak time for this sort of fun even on a work trip! Just wow! I'm speechless!"
His assistant laughed. "Now we know why he was so late this morning, since he must have stayed up all night!"
I wonder who the girl is, the Director stroked his chin. But the main question was, even if Ren had a secret lover, why didn't he bother to hide the hickey? Any sane person would.
Unless... Konoe gasped. Any sane person would, but Cain Heel isn't exactly sane. And he wouldn't bother hiding it if he got that mark while he was in character.
It made sense the most. Ren was not in any serious or long relationship, Konoe was sure about that much since the actor's name had never once made it to the gossip tabloids. Which only meant, it must have been a casual thing. But Ren had arrived in the studio room last night. He wouldn't break character in the middle of the night just for some girl. It was too much of a risk.
The Director shook his head. Ren would never risk this whole project for the sake of some one night stand! He's extremely through.
Another possibility dawned on him. Yes, he's thorough. A little too thorough if you ask me. Which is why Cain Heel would never let others see a mark which Ren has personally gotten. So the only explanation was Cain had gotten that hickey when he was still in character. And when he was in character, the only girl around him whom Cain wouldn't hesitate to do something like that with was... Kyoko.
It even made sense why he never bothered to hide the hickey, since Cain never cared about being discreet in his unhealthy relationship with his sister Setsuka, no matter how taboo it was.
But going so far to live out a character to do something like that? And what about Kyoko? Did she agree to this? The Director slapped his cheeks to snap himself out of it. What am I thinking? Of course not! She's still a minor, Ren would never do something like that to her! Since he's so thorough about his character, he must have deliberately put that hickey there just to add a bit of a scandal in his character. It might even be fake. Or maybe he had his manager leave it or something. Yes, that must be it.