Lory was positively giddy. He had everything planned out to force his favorite couples together. They were all filing into the LME lobby to wait for the buses that would usher them to the luxury hotel he had purchased just for his special game. He rubbed his hands together as he saw Kyoko and Ren take a seat beside one another along with Kanae and Chiori. Kyoko was talking animatedly as her three friends listened with amused smiles on their faces.
"This scheme of yours isn't going to work." Yashiro said sneaking up behind Lory. The president gasped and jumped to the side.
"What scheme? I don't know what you could possibly mean." Lory said, "This is merely a fun Halloween game to bring everyone together."
Yashiro remained calm with a feigned bored expression saying, "You're trying to force Kyoko-chan and Ren to admit their feelings to each other. I suspect that there are also other couples you are trying to set up but I'm not quite sure who you mean to force together."
"I'm not forcing anyone to do anything they don't already want to do." Lory huffed feeling insulted. "I gave them the choice to opt out of participating
"You gave them no choice." The manager said unamused as he recalled the option the president had given them. "It was this or Kyoko-chan would have to date strangers."
"Not all of them would have been strangers." Lory reasoned. "She happens to be remarkably close friends with Ishibashi Hikaru and Hiromune Koga. Though Koga-kun said he would prefer to do this than go on a date with her. Why wouldn't he want to date our lovely Mogami-kun? I heard they got along quite well on set."
"Maybe he doesn't want to be awkwardly forced to date his friend. How did you get other companies to go along with you stealing their talents for what could be two weeks of your mayhem?"
"What mayhem!" Lory gasped, "The other agencies presidents recognized the benefits of lending me their talents. The connections they will make and the publicity they will gain will be greatly appreciated for years to come. Not to mention I am compensating them for their time. Besides the talents all agreed with minimal persuasion."
"I just hope you're not too disappointed when Kyoko-chan and Ren leave here as nothing more than the close senpai and kohai they already are."
"Friends. At least say they are friends." Lory pleaded.
"I would but then Kyoko-chan would faceplant at Ren's feet begging for forgiveness over the insult of someone mistaking her for his friend." Yashiro said feeling bad for the president as the hope in his eyes faded to gloom. Yashiro took pity on the man. "It's not all bad. Look at them sitting next to one another."
"You'll help me won't you Yashiro-kun." Lory pleaded and Yashiro had to look away hiding a wry smile. If only the president knew what those two got up to when no one was looking. Yashiro didn't even know the full extent, but he could take some guesses based on the flush on both his charges faces when he picked them up.
"I am doing what I can for them. I still feel the need to warn you that those two are stubborn and this scheme of yours is not going to work." Yashiro said patting the president on the back.
"It just might though." Lory said and Yashiro got the impression that Lory was hiding something from him. Yashiro couldn't know that the Hizuri participating as special guests was significant to pushing Ren and Kyoko together. He couldn't know that one of Lory's plots involved Kuon being honest with himself. Then again Lory didn't know that ship had already sailed.
"So, all together we have eight kill cards? Does the president want there to be multiple killers?" Chiori asked.
"He wants there to be a mystery and for us to distrust our teammates." Ren said drolly.
"Speaking of teammates, scoot over." Kijima said waltzing over to the couch. "If I have to play this stupid game to protect your precious little one, you're protecting me."
"What do you mean?" Kyoko asked as Kijima shoved Ren closer to her.
"Your president said he would make you date randoms if I didn't participate." Kijima explained.
"I thought he made you do this as punishment for flirting with no intent of finding true love." Kanae said having heard about him hitting on a popstar.
"Why was that his threat to most people?" Kyoko pondered out loud. "I understand Moko-san but even Tsuruga-san and the Ishibashi-niisan." Ren's eye twitched almost imperceptivity as she mentioned the boy band, she was so close with. "Yashiro-san said we have too many on our team though. That's why the Ishibashi-niisan couldn't join us."
"Kijima-san is only one person." Ren said. Though Kijima acted like a goof ball Ren knew he could be smart and beneficial in protecting Kyoko. Which was all Ren really cared about.
"And he no longer has a crush on Kyoko-chan." Chiori commented to Kanae as though Kyoko wasn't sitting right beside her.
"Kijima-san never had a crush on me." Kyoko said to the snickering Chiori.
"He thought you were pretty cute though." Kanae teased.
"I did." Kijima agreed proudly.
"Thinking someone is cute is not the same as having a crush." Kyoko stated.
"You're just saying that because you think tsuruggguu…" Kyoko slapped a hand over Chiori's mouth.
"What was that?" Ren asked and Kyoko slowly turned her head in horror. Kanae rolled her eyes but said nothing.
"Don't look now but that guy is here." Kijima said suddenly serious. They all looked over to see Shotaro stride through the doors a smug grin on his face.
Kyoko frowned for a moment but then she held up her kill card. The moment they arrived on location she would present it to the president. Shotaro could be the first victim and she would be the killer. Kanae shook her head and settled her hand over Kyoko's.
"Fuwa-san is your boss. He plays the heir to the hotel we'll be playing the game at and staying in. I don't think you can kill him the first day." Kanae said gently. She too wished that she could murder Fuwa but since she was only given one kill card, she didn't want to be hasty.
"I know that." Kyoko huffed. "But he is not a very nice boss, and he often cuts my paychecks. If only my restaurant had not failed."
"Don't worry we can kill him eventually." Ren said a wicked grin on his face.
"No, you cannot." Yashiro said walking over to them. "There is no way I will permit my precious little sister to stay married to a killer."
Ren rolled his eyes. For the life of him, he couldn't comprehend why he had Kanae as a sister and Kyoko got Yashiro as her brother. She got his smart, dependable, and organized manager and he got her best friend who he was pretty certain hated him.
"I'll do whatever I need to in order to keep my wife safe." Ren declared.
"I still can't believe the president had the nerve to pair us together." Kyoko said, "As if someone like Tsuruga-san would ever marry me."
"Do you think you were his student?" Kijima asked nudging her. "Maybe you two had an illicit affair and big brother here forced him to marry you."
"That is not how it happened. Tsuruga-san would never date a student. He is an upstanding teacher who nurtures his student's language skills." Kyoko vehemently declared looking ready to fight Kijima.
"Ok. Ok. I was only teasing."
"It is unwise to anger the chef Kijima-kun." Lory said stepping in front of the crowd of talents and managers that had gathered. "Good morning, everyone." He said and waited a beat as people mumbled their greeting to him. Not one of them wanted to be there to play his games. He pouted and Maria sighed from her spot beside him.
"Grandfather said good morning to you all!" Maria shouted into her megaphone. Everyone covered their ears wincing. "Now that I have your attention let's try that again. Grandfather.
Lory smirk before his booming voice filled the room. "Good morning, everyone." He had no need for a megaphone.
"Good morning president." Everyone said including those who were not part of LME. They wanted to avoid the wrath of Lory and his granddaughter.
"Very good. Now allow me to explain the rules to our little game." He said standing tall. "First you have all been given incomplete scripts. You were given the information that is relevant to you and nothing more. Your teammates may have shared some of their stories with you but keep in mind you were all given lies to tell and secrets to keep. I will state now that the killer knows who they are and may choose to conceal this fact."
He paused for dramatic effect as everyone looked around at their teammates. Lory grinned catching Ren's eyes glaring at him.
"That being said some of you were given kill cards. These cards will not make you the killer but are to be given to the gamemaster, me, who will pass it onto the killer. If you choose to use the kill card on the killer, they may choose to stage their own death. In case any of you get the idea to use the cards just to end the game faster." There was a collective groan as everyone let go of that idea. "I will present to you our first two scripted victims." He motioned to Kuu and Julie who were looking out at the crowd with careful disinterest in Ren. "A number of you owe the Hizuri money. Some of you have been sabotaged by Kuu or Julie in order to force you to borrow money. They are shady and devilish, and one of you will murder one of them by the end of the first night. They will both find time to act out scenes with each of the scripted suspects and the killer will kill one. It's as simple as that. Then I will take the footage and cut it into a cute little direct to TV special."
"What do you mean footage?" Kijima asked wondering why his team members barely reacted to the revelation that they would be filmed.
"Do not worry the business end was handled with your managers. You will all be paid for your time." Lory said nonchalantly.
"Tch, and when were you planning on telling us about your weird reality TV show?" Shotaro asked crossing his arms.
"It is not weird, and it is not a reality TV show." Lory said, "It is a Halloween Extravaganza television special event featuring all the best and brightest stars."
"Grandfather, we have to remain on course." Maria said before he could go on a rant about how beautiful and filled with love matches the game would be.
"Right. You all have your scripts and your timecards for when certain scenes are to take place. If you die before scenes are meant to be filmed, then c'est la vie." Lory said with a shrug. "There are no cameras in the bathrooms or your bedrooms. These are your safe zones to plot with teammates or take a moment to be out of character. Your costumes will be provided at the hotel. As you may have noticed our cute little detective Maria is already in her costume."
Maria did a pirouette then bowed to them showing off her tweed gray outfit. Her hair was pinned up under her hat and she had a notepad in her front pocket for jotting down clues. Kyoko found some solace knowing that at least Maria would be having fun.
"I will request that nobody try to have our resident chef killed as her sous chef is not that great a cook. If you choose to have her killed, then be prepared to eat prepackaged meals and instant ramen." He motioned to Kyoko and Yashiro. "And if you hand me a kill card but cannot give me a good reason pertaining to the game as to why this person needs to die, I will take the card and not hand it off to the killer. You cannot kill a character simply because you don't like them in game or in real life."
"Just admit that this is all your game, and you have no intention of letting us hijack it." Shotaro spat. He resented that he had been roped into this. His president thought it sounded fun and had demanded that Shotaro do it for publicity. At first, he had refused but they had tricked him into agreeing. They made it sound like an all expense paid vacation. One where he would schmooze A-list celebrities and flirt with hot actresses. According to the script he would actually have to do stuff. Though some of it was right up his ally, for instance he had several scenes in which he got to berate Kyoko.
"There will be some people I allow to die immediately if given a kill card for them. Some of you are scripted to be awful and hated. If you are chosen to die and it is approved, I will give you a script to your death scene. I do encourage you to improvise however, and possibly escape death. If you can make it to another player, then the killer will stop pursuing you and you may survive. In the case that you are that hated, and several characters pick you to use their kill card on then the killer will keep trying." Lory said ignoring Shotaro. "Now then since there are no questions, we should all head out to the busses."
"No questions." Kyoko mumbled her brow twitching.
"Are any of you the killer?" Kanae asked as everyone else filed out around them murmuring amongst themselves.
"Nope," Kijima said standing up.
"Nu uh." Chiori said pouting.
"No." Kyoko said.
"I'm not." Yashiro said.
They all turned to Ren who was glaring at Shotaro. The younger man was smirking back at him thinking of all the ways he could torment Kyoko. It was part of the script. He could be mean and snarky and withhold her wages. He could make her work overtime and request that she make outlandish meals.
"Tsuruga," Kijima said elbowing him.
"Yeah?" Ren asked.
"Are you the killer?" Kanae questioned again.
"What kind of little sister accuses her brother of murder?" He asked back with a teasing grin. "If I were the killer then Fuwa would be my first kill."
"Fuwa is not scripted to die first. One of the Hizuri couple has to be first." Kanae pointed out.
"We should head to our bus." Ren said lifting his and Kyoko's luggage. "Kijima-san could you carry my sister's luggage?"
"Yes, sensei." Kijima said reaching for Kanae's luggage. Kanae pulled her luggage towards her and stood up.
"I can carry my own things Nii-sama." She said stalking past them all. "And you didn't answer the question."
A/N: I feel like that was a lot of information. I still don't know for sure where this is going but I'll ask ya'll should Kuu or Julie die first? They're both going to die either way and I know who victim 3 will be.