Chapter 11

She wasn't certain that she was comfortable meeting with this particular individual. She was most certainly out of her element in his place of business; although, somehow it did feel like a bit of a fairyland. She giggled at the thought as she spied four teens in penguin costumes pass her on the way to the elevator, and the young lady in a bright pink coverall that boarded along with her. She looked close to Kyoko's age, very sour, somewhat familiar, and very what Kyoko thought to be Shotaro's type once upon a time. She reminded Kyoko of what she could have possibly been had she'd actually stayed in Tokyo and taken Sho up on his challenge all those years ago, instead of doing something for herself and going to culinary school in Europe.

No, this young woman in pink was no longer anywhere near the VK group Vie Ghoul and yes, their groupies had been the ones that were keeping the backstage rumors about her alive. Because of this, she sincerely hated Reino and the band for spreading such garbage about her, and she despised Sho for getting the ball rolling when he'd aired their dirty laundry back then and believed them. Needless to say, she was a bit bitter towards men in general. Well, except for maybe the one that was sweet, kind, a little shy, and saw her for more than just her body. She had met him when she'd taken over the Kimagure Rock mascot position when the original was out sick, Hikaru Ishibashi.

Not that Kyoko would actually know this young woman, but she was the former gravure model Mimori Nanokura. After Akatoki had let her contract expire without renewal, she had migrated over to LME. She had a bad reputation and an attitude to match. The rumors going around about her had been horrible. Lory had seen her overall attitude towards love and the devastation it could cause in someone's life, and he decided to send her over to the little section that he'd created for his broken talents that were missing that extra little thing in their lives. The LoveME Section.

"You might want to look away. It could harm your eyes." She muttered, staring at the floor.

Kyoko furrowed her brow. "Pardon?"

Mimori sighed. "The Pink Curse. If you stare too long it could damage your eyesight." She glowered.

Kyoko giggled. "I don't think it's really that bad."

Mimori looked up at her a little shocked. Most usually agreed with that assessment. "I haven't seen you here before. Are you new to the modeling or the acting section?"

Kyoko shook her head. "Neither, I'm just visiting Takarada-san." She wasn't sure why he actually wanted to see her. "Probably for a catering job, for my restaurant." That was the only reason she could explain his interest or this appointment.

Mimori furrowed her brow. "You work for a restaurant?" She asked, a little surprised.

Kyoko smiled. "I'm the Head Chef for The Meadow, my name is Kyoko Takatsuki." She introduced herself and bowed slightly.

"Mimori Nanokura, model and actress. It's nice to meet you." She returned the bow and both heard the ding of the elevator. "Well Takatsuki-san, this is my floor. Be careful of the LoveMon." She warned as she left and the doors closed.

Kyoko stared at the closed doors for a moment. "LoveMon?… What's that?" She shook her head. She knew Lory to be eccentric, so it really wasn't such a stretch for him to have eccentric employees too. After all, she had met the young man he'd always kept at his side, Ruto and there was also Kuon's squealy manager, Yukihito Yashiro. She'd only ever met the two a few times, but that was more than enough for her to get the overall essence of their odd personalities. Being the owner and head chef of The Meadow, it really wasn't unprecedented for her to meet a few unusual people on occasion.

Yes, it had been a catering job. One that was directly requested by Maria Takarada herself and with an invitation to said party. It was a party to thank the people in Maria's life that had changed things for the better for her. Kyoko was honored, but didn't actually see anything that she'd done for the girl that was significant. She'd merely reprimanded her for the spider incident. The party was a good idea though. She was certain that she probably wouldn't have been able to think of such an idea herself.

When she returned to her office for the afternoon, she began planning the menu for the party that was in a month, on the 24th of December. She sighed at the thought. She really hadn't celebrated her birthday in years or even attend parties on or near that day. It was something of a sore spot for her for a long time. Where everyone else had celebrated their birthdays over the years, only two had ever even mentioned her or even suggested something like that for her. So… if it weren't for her adoptive parents, the holidays and her birthday were something of a depressing, empty thought for her.

Maria had suggested that she celebrate with her, but honestly if Kyoko decided to invite all the people in her life that had changed it or did something for her, there wouldn't be enough room anywhere to do so, now that she had time to think about it. With those thoughts, her mood lightened and she could see that she had no reason to be blue around this time of the year. She had her parents, her acquaintances, her actual friends, her employees and professional acquaintances, then there was Kuon. She really didn't know where he fit-in in all of this mess that was her hectic life right now, but she was certain that he was definitely more than just a friend. That, was a little scary to her.

She honestly wasn't sure what to do with him. It would be seemingly obvious that he wanted to be more than friends, if the way he behaved around her was any indication. He wasn't over the top or extremely forward in his flirting, but it was still there. He seemed to take her comfort into consideration regarding anything romantically associated and she was grateful for that. Kanae kept telling her to "go for it.", but could she? Did she really have the room in her life to or the time to dedicate? Could she be reading his signals incorrectly? It's not like that hadn't happened before. She had at least a couple of examples to go by if she didn't include Sho.

No, she didn't chase after men in her teen years. She actually had them asking her out. It wasn't anything serious, in her opinion. After being burned so badly, she didn't want anything serious. She didn't want to have anything to do with falling in love back then. She was pretty sure that the young men that dated her back then didn't have any permanent intentions either. For the most part, they dated for the same reason she did, to get those life experiences and to get to know the other person. Well, if you didn't count the kissing and other experimental stuff. No, she threw away the Nadeshiko Yamato image a long time ago and she was glad of it. It caused her nothing but bad memories and pain. It also prevented her from experiencing a normal childhood. She stopped being the "wife in training" the moment she heard Sho say those terrible things about her.

Maybe I should just let go and see where he wants to go with this, and stop being so uptight around him. It's not like he's like the others. Even Kanae can admit that, and she has pretty high standards. There was a relief to that thought.