This version has been revised for clarity and story flow, enjoy.
…
Ren's heartbeat raced as he heard the phone ring once, twice, thrice, before finally, he heard a click as the call connected, and then a slightly breathless voice came over the line.
"This is Juli, may I ask who's speaking?"
Ren immediately teared up at the sound of his mother's voice. His breath hitched, but he managed to get the words out.
"Hey mom. It's me."
He caught the sound of a shocked noise, and then a whisper, "... Baby? Kuon? Is that my baby?"
He half laughed, half sobbed, "Yeah mom, it's me."
"Kuon, what, what is this?" Juli's words were shaky and her voice sounded like it was trembling.
"It's just me stopping myself from staying so stubborn. That's all, I promise."
His mother's sniffles were clearly heard through the connection, and a pang of heartache shot through him.
"I'm so sorry mom. I'm so sorry."
"Me too baby. I'm sorry too. I never realized what the problem was to begin with. Does, is, does this mean I can see you soon? What do you need?"
And wasn't that just like his mother, immediately trying to find a way to help.
"Yeah. I'd like to see you and dad soon. I think, I think I need some help."
"Is everything ok Kuon? We can be out there in a day, depending on the weather and flights available and-"
"No, no, mom, god, it's not that pressing. I promise, I'm in good health, I've not taken on too much work, I've not gotten into trouble with the law, no tabloids are gossiping about me going around with women. Let me see..did I miss anything? I can't remember..." he interrupted what seemed like might be the beginning of an anxious rant, wanting to assuage the alarm in Juli's voice, and the many reasons it might be there. He searched his brain, trying to figure out if there was anything he might have missed.
He didn't realize Juli had sat there on the line, waiting for a moment, before she piped up again, sounding disgruntled, "I see your father's been telling tales of my concern for my only child." she sniffed haughtily. That broke the concern he felt, and he couldn't help but laugh. He then hurried to reassure her.
"Ah mom, I promise. I just wanted to make sure you knew I was ok."
Juli sounded slightly mollified as she spoke again, "Well alright, tell me about why you actually called then. What do you need help with?"
"Ah, geez, this might take a bit. You in the middle of anything?" He asked, wanting to make sure Juli didn't set the kitchen on fire if she was in the middle of making breakfast. He was pretty sure he'd called about nine am their time.
"No, your father already left and I just ate. I don't leave until this afternoon for the work I need to do today."
"Well, alright. So I have this role I'm working on…" he quickly explained the point to point development of his Jack Taylor role, and his mom sprinkled in surprised exclamations of 'No!', 'Wow, really?!', 'So brave!' and 'Oh wow, how romantic!' in between parts of his explanation. He had to smile. He had known when getting this role, that it would be one his parents would love. Perhaps, in retrospect, that had been some of the best part of its appeal to him. Hesitant, but determined, he then explained the issues he'd caused that day.
Juli made sympathetic noises once he'd finished, "Oh, darling. That sounds so rough. I hate it when I do the same thing."
Intellectually, he understood that his parents made the same mistakes he did, no one was perfect, but he had to chuckle as she didn't even scold him.
"You spoil me too much mom." Juli huffed as he said this.
"It's easy to get too wrapped up in some other aspect of your work, and mess up somewhere else. No one's perfect."
He sighed, and leaned his back against the roof railing, "Thanks mom."
"You're welcome Kuon. That can't be all that's bothering you though. Not for you to have gone ahead and given us a call. It may have taken me some time, but I do know now that even if I think I might have helped, you probably need help with other things too. That other stuff you talked about, did you need help there? Would your great aunt's journals be helpful? Oh, but wouldn't that be with your great uncle's things there?" Juli asked.
He was touched that just in the span of their conversation, his mother had realized and understood that he'd called for more than one reason. A fresh wave of affection welled up inside him and he found himself responding, despite his misgivings. "Actually, that's not it at all. And it's dad's great aunt and uncle."
"Well, whichever," He stopped himself from laughing out loud as her tone of voice let him perfectly picture her doing her classic shrugging pose.
"Ok, alright, what I need help with here specifically from you and dad, might be much more difficult than we might think."
Juli's voice was full of intrigue when she spoke again, "Ok then. Well, I've got time. Let's lay this out, see what we can do. I'll bet your dad will be so upset he missed a classic Hizuri planning session!" she laughed and he joined her, mirth bubbling up inside, finally washing away the last of the awkwardness he felt in calling them after so long.
"Yeah," he said, "I bet he will. So here is what I was thinking…"
When Ren hadn't returned to their shared dorm room for hours past when he should have, Nick had finally gotten curious as to where he'd gone and he'd went wandering. In his wandering, he'd come across Kyoko-san in the kitchen- who'd only scowled and muttered into her tea when he'd asked a couple questions, a frazzled looking Director Shingai-san in the editing room-who also couldn't help him, and a frowning Yashiro-san in the lounge-who actually had helped him eventually.
Nick blew out a harrassed sigh. When Yashiro-san had pointed him to either the outdoors, or the roof, Nick had wanted to kick himself. Of course Ren would go to places like those. It had been a tendency of his to run to open space whenever he felt troubled, and it'd been that way for as long as Nick had known Ren.
Nick stepped out onto the roof of their building after he'd checked the tables outside. He got lucky when he spotted Ren leaning against the railing with his eyes closed, with what seemed to be a liquor bottle next to him that was two-thirds of the way full. Nick also noticed the phone, and a half-full glass next to him. Curiouser and curiouser. Nick had been with the base personnel most of the day, so he'd only heard rumors of what had happened, but he'd thought Ren might be more upset than what his current drinking indicated.
He stepped close enough to hit the bottom of Ren's shoe with his own.
"Hey, man, you awake?"
One of Ren's eyelids cracked open, then slipped closed again, and he grunted. Nick rolled his eyes, and squatted down next to him, taking a sip from Ren's glass. Damn, he grabbed vodka. Nick let out a silent whistle, impressed. He set it back down, and decided to see if he could annoy Ren at all; Nick kind of wanted to after it had taken so long to find him.
"Yo, Ren, my dude, my pal, BROOOO," Nick made his voice louder, and louder, before Ren's eyes snapped open again, and he finally reacted by kicking Nick's feet out from under him. Nick cursed loudly, but rolled over so he sat down, his legs criss-crossed as he leaned against the railing as well.
"Jackass," he muttered.
Ren kicked at him again and Nick scowled.
"Whatever. You never called your manager back. What's that about?" Nick asked.
"He's been annoying me all week."
"That's rare. Does this have anything to do with you avoiding Kyoko-san all week?"
Ren shot him a glare, "I wasn't avoiding her-"
"Yeah, whatever. I always do the base personnel stuff, then tell you what's important. You attended waaaay too many meetings this week that you didn't need to, to try to pull that one on me." Nick leveled an even stare at the younger man until Ren dropped his gaze.
"What does my manager want?"
"It was weird. I was looking for you because you hadn't come back to the dorms, and when I came across him, he said if I found you to just let you know that he uploaded the video you wanted. He said to check the usual place?" Nick shrugged.
That explanation successfully captured Ren's attention though, and he straightened from where he'd been leaning, and started tapping at his phone. Nick leaned over his shoulder, trying to figure out what it was. When the shaky video started up, and Nick caught sight of the set, he realized it must be from that afternoon. Nick's curiosity grew. Nearly every rumor that'd been going around, had said that the work done that afternoon was remarkable.
Ren played the footage through once, and then once again. When he went to do it a third time, Nick interrupted, "Man, what are you looking for?"
Surprisingly, Ren only frowned, then glanced back at him. "Here, you watch it. Tell me what you think."
Nick was slightly irritated that Ren was suddenly so demanding, but shrugged it off. He was curious anyway. He couldn't stop himself from talking about it anyway, once he really started to analyze it.
"Oooh, that was good of Kyoko-san there. She's seems very aware of your presence. She shows her nervousness well. Oh yes, of course Jack would be angry like this here. He's so upset that she won't choose to break free from her family's demands. Oh, that was good there Ren. Jack's so angry because he knows he shouldn't want her, oh but he does, he can't help himself. He wants her to break free when he couldn't, yes, this is very good. Oh wow, the way she just...crumples there...she wants what he's been offering, but of course she can't do what he wants...oh Kyoko-san, that's beautif-."
Ren shoved a hand in his face, tucking his phone out of sight as Nick started to sputter, "Hey, you jackass! You asked! What the fu-"
"Quit talking! Christ, you like it, I get it."
Nick stared as Ren's cheeks burned bright red.
"Oh my god. Are you...are you seriously embarrassed by your work here? God, what is that even like? Why aren't you just proud of yourself for doing a good job?"
"This was hard, alright!?"
"Obviously. It was always going to be hard. Did you think it would be easy?"
Ren flushed, and turned away and Nick marveled to see it.
"Look man, I don't think I get what your problem is here. For that matter, what about this scene bothered you so much that you were avoiding it all week?"
Ren groaned, thumping his head against the railing, "I just, look, being that vulnerable… Just acting it out that way, maybe I can do that when I'm older, but I have too little experience to be able to do that successfully now. Haven't you heard? I always play the gentleman roles. Playing that kind of character is easy. Stern with work, always gentle with women…That's easy. This? This was unbelievably difficult."
"Are you being self-pitying right now? I watched Dark Moon you know, Katsuki was far more three dimensional than what you just described."
"And he was incredibly difficult too."
Nick frowned. "What are you saying? What's the actual problem here? You're putting too much of yourself into roles like this?"
"I guess that could be the problem, yeah," Ren muttered, his tone of voice thoughtful.
"Well then, let's break this down. You had to express anger, you did it well. You had to express betrayal, desperation, need. You did it all. What did you want me to find fault with here? Do you want me to scold you because you found a way to work this scene?"
Nick sighed loudly after a moment when Ren didn't respond, "Look man, yeah it's exhausting to pour your heart and soul into a role like that, but you wanted to make your mark didn't you? You wanted to show the world what you could do. You can't do that unless you face things like this head on. Take a break if your last year of work took too much out of you, but as someone who has a quarter of the determination to do well that you do, quit your pity party. You had a problem. You could have handled it better by all accounts, but you did your job anyway."
"Jesus. Tell me what you really think of me," said Ren, scowling.
Nick rolled his eyes, "You're too hard on yourself. And a tad overdramatic in my opinion."
Ren glared and sent out a little kick with his foot that got Nick right on his shin. Nick swore as he rubbed at it, "God you're an ass sometimes."
"Yes, yes I am."
The two sat there in silence for a bit, discontented all around, before Ren took out his phone again and replayed the scene, frowning all the while.
After a while, Nick was curious enough to ask, "What is it now?"
Ren shrugged.
Nick sat there for a while longer, staring up at the sky, while Ren paused it, then replayed a portion. Nick heard the sound of dishes hitting the floor.
"What upsets you about that?" Nick asked softly.
Ren hesitated, and when he spoke, it was practically inaudible.
"I… I was angry."
"You were supposed to be."
"No. Not Jack. I mean, yes, Jack was angry, but I, I was angry too."
"That's not that strange."
"Anger is dangerous."
Nick darted a quick glance at Ren, but Ren was staring at the paused screen, his face twisted up in pain. Nick studied him carefully out of the corner of his eye.
"We're only human Ren, we're going to get angry."
"Anger can make you lose everything you have ever worked for," said Ren quietly. Nick turned to more clearly observe Ren's features, trying to figure out where this was coming from.
"Ren," Nick started, hesitating a little, "You're entitled to what you feel. What you do with your anger is a different matter, but it's dangerous to pretend to not feel it. Your feelings are yours and you're allowed to have them. Own it."
Ren watched him, something raw and fragile in his eyes that Nick didn't recognize. Ren's mood had been hard to parse since Nick had stumbled across him, but Nick didn't think he could decipher the expression on his face if he had help to do it. Nick abruptly changed the subject.
"Aren't you being too judgemental with this scene right now in any case? This is odd for me to ask, but you did this with your narration too. Even Kyoko-san noticed. You didn't like that Jack felt shame. You don't like that he's angry. If Shingai-san was calling you out for your fear of what was it again...on-screen vulnerability? Well, then I think he was actually right to do it. You're only playing Jack. You shouldn't be passing judgment on him. Isn't that acting 101? One of the first things we're taught?"
Ren's mouth opened and shut, without sound making it out for a long moment. Nick could only be relieved that the strange expression on his face was completely wiped away by the switch in subject matter. As he thought this, Ren groaned and let out a huge sigh, "Man. I'm getting way too wrapped up in my own head. I'm thinking way too much about how other people are going to judge Jack. You got me, man. It's a newbie mistake. I can't believe I fell into that trap."
Nick smiled slightly, sympathizing with Ren's plight, "I get it man, I do. You feel really deeply about how he'll come across to the people watching the show. But, and just bear with me a second, but why did you actually take this role?"
Ren studied the paused video for a moment, thinking, "I, well, in the beginning, I thought I'd do best as Interpreter Tanaka."
"What? Really? Miura-san's role?"
Ren nodded, sighing as he remembered the beginning of the summer and how much hassle he'd caused everyone. "Yeah, really. Shingai-san sent me a script, because he'd worked with me before and wanted some people he knew he could work well with. It's such a big cast, he thought it'd be easier. Interpreter Tanaka instantly stood out as a possibility."
"So, what happened then?"
"Takashi-san happened, actually. She kept asking me why I chose the interpreter. Why him? Why the interpreter? It wasn't that visible of a role, and my reputation preceeded me. But, when I kept trying to explain, I kept talking about the potential of how groundbreaking this show could be, how it was important to me that I be a part of that, because I thought the message itself was so important."
"Interpreter Tanaka was easy. He's unabashedly a good guy. You knew that type of role like the back of your hand. For something with so complicated a message, you wanted to play it safe with doing a role that would be easy for you." Nick smiled wryly, but he understood. Ren nodded, a short embarrassed nod. "So then what happened?"
"I was intrigued by Jack in Act One, certainly. The script direction and the character biography was interesting, but then Takashi-san gave me Act Two. And Act Two made me want to play Jack."
Nick's own script for Act Two was pretty short; he was only in a few scenes. He wondered if Takashi-san had given Ren the entire actual script to go through. That'd be a curious moment of whimsy from their reserved scriptwriter, if that was the truth. Ren spoke again.
"Jack, as a character, doesn't approach others much, as his own family drilled it into his head that he needed to focus on his path forward, that he needed to make something of himself, to make up for his...beginnings." Ren sneered that last word, in a surprising show of a disgust. Nick glanced at him warily for a second, before Ren kept talking.
"Jack has this fascination for Yayoi. She so easily approaches others, she wants to connect with them. Jack, he kind of spurned that type of behavior, he played it safe, like his family always wanted. But he can never turn away when Yayoi approaches him, he just can't. She's too good-natured." Ren sighed and Nick relaxed as he leaned against the roof's railing. To be sure, all this talk of Jack and Yayoi and their appeal made him remember the appeal of Lt Bill Burnham that made Nick say yes to Ren's request.
"All those lessons from Yayoi's father bore fruit and all that. To be humble, and wise. To be a thinker, because knowledge is power. To teach others, because if you can, you should. Jack recognizes in Yayoi, the loneliness associated with trying to be everything your family ever wanted from you. I guess, well, something about that dynamic, I had to see if I could do that."
"It's interesting," said Nick softly, contemplatively.
"Is it?"
"Yep," said Nick, popping the sound of the p with a hard smack of his lips.
Ren's gaze swung over to him, studying him, but Nick kept quiet. They sat there in silence, before Ren sighed.
"Seriously man, I answered your question. What's interesting?"
Nick shrugged. Inexplicably though, he found himself speaking up, "Are you so hard on yourself because of your family's expectations? Do you judge yourself so harshly because you're trying to live up to some impossible goal?"
Nick wished he'd said nothing though, when Ren's face went white, his eyes wide and stunned. Nick stammered, "Um, I mean, uh, you do you man, uh, don't take that too seriously. Oh, look at the time, don't we have a meeting we need to get to in the morning?"
Nick let out a nervous laugh, as he scrambled up and away from Ren.
"No, Nick, wait." Ren stood too, and his hand reached out to Nick's elbow to stop him, "Look, man, it's alright. It's true. I made a dumb mistake this week. And yes it's because I have high expectations of myself. I'm sorry if I make you feel so uneasy that you just got scared of how I would react."
Nick stepped back, trying to shrug off his own reaction, "Sorry. Didn't mean to upset you as much as I wound up doing."
"Hey it's fine. Come on, you're right. I shouldn't be up here wallowing. Let's get going, hm? We do have an appointment with Takashi-san in the morning after all."
Ren gathered his things and they got going, but Nick couldn't help but feel guilty for overstepping, even as he felt relief that the conversation dwindled to nothing. He studied the tense lines of Ren's shoulders as he went ahead of him, and pondered whether there could be something he could help Ren with, as compensation for bothering him. But as they settled into sleep so they could meet up with Takashi-san and the others in the morning, Nick still wasn't sure what that could be.
Even a couple days later, Yashiro Yukihito was still marveling over the events of Friday afternoon, and the subsequent fallout. His observations were somewhat incomplete, due to other matters he'd been trying to keep well in hand, but they had revealed a few things. For whatever reason, Ren was not wallowing in his mistakes. This was good, in Yashiro's expert opinion. A self-pitying Ren made everyone feel down, and brought down the whole atmosphere of a production.
Kyoko, well, Kyoko had apparently retreated behind a professional, demure facade. Her second level of defense was one Kotonami Kanae. Anytime either were approached by various cast and crew-who were overwhelmingly curious about Friday's events, they were promptly shut down. Kyoko was polite about it, but Kotonami-san tossed out sardonic remarks in response like they were going out of style.
Yashiro admired Kotonami-san's certain brand of viciousness, but he did find the pattern to be a worrying one. Would Kyoko always retreat and throw up Kotonami Kanae for defense whenever Ren upset her? Yashiro was unsure about the answer to that question. Did Kotonami-san just want to protect Kyoko? Yashiro thought that might be more likely. Like the change in Kyoko and Ren he'd observed since the act of the Heel Siblings, so too had he been observing the change and growth in Kyoko and Kotonami-san's relationship since A Sacred Lotus in the Mire had been finished.
He had actually been provoked into taking more action on the Lotus set himself as an LME manager, as Kyoko and Kotonami-san trying to wade through those waters by themselves had proven to be incredibly more difficult than anyone had anticipated. So he'd fallen into this particular observational habit then, and had kept with it, and Yashiro was glad he had done so. Kotonami-san's protectiveness could possibly just be a holdover from the summer. Yashiro wasn't going to count that out just yet.
As Yashiro continued scribbling down notes in his planner and pondering this, one Takimoto Misaki entered the lounge where he was at.
"Yashiro-san? Good morning! I didn't expect anyone to be up at this hour. What are you up to?" Takimoto-san's cheery voice as she asked this startled Yashiro, and he found himself blinking at her absently for a second. Then he cleared his throat, and set his pen down.
"Good morning Takimoto-san. I had some business I needed to get done. Why are you up so early?"
She held up a camera and a small notebook, "Homework myself. Have to get it in before noon. My professor is a stickler for that."
"I can't believe you were able to continue with school while on location." said Yashiro, admiring the determination that required. Kyoko had been able to do so, but she was at a highschool that let their students do that, not a college that had stricter attendance regulations.
Takimoto-san shrugged, "I just made sure to have two classes this semester once I got hired for this. They can both be done online, and I can watch the videos of their lectures when I have time."
"What a clever way to get around the attendance issue," remarked Yashiro.
"Well, I don't have too many classes to go until I graduate, I was determined."
Yashiro studied her while she settled into a chair across from him. "How did you come across this type of work anyway?"
"Oh, actually I was scouted. I work at a traditional restaurant part-time while I go to college, and a director needed someone who was familiar with that setting for a series he was doing. I wound up getting an agency through that production, and well, here I am."
"Fascinating," Yashiro murmured. "What's your favorite part of the business?"
Takimoto-san tilted her head to the side, chewing thoughtfully on her pen, "I don't know. All the people maybe? There's so many things you have to consider when interacting with so many different types of people, and I find that really interesting and challenging."
Yashiro once more wished Takimoto-san was interested in attending the LME manager training classes.
"I see. Any favorites of yours that come to mind?" Yashiro thought she might mention Momose-san again when he asked this. But, Takimoto-san had proven to have a really interesting perspective on things, so he was still curious.
She tapped her pen against her notebook as she pondered this. Eventually, after a moment, she spoke again, "I think, actually, your clients might be my favorite people to observe. I don't know that you were there, but watching them at lunch yesterday was fascinating."
"Oh?"
"Yep. Well, you know how the special Sunday lunch dessert is gelatin. I had previously observed that while Tsuruga-san really only ate jelly desserts like that, he didn't yesterday. That was curious. But then I thought, oh he might not be too hungry. Didn't think too much of it." She paused and Yashiro nodded along, intrigued by what she was saying.
"Well, second thing I noticed, he didn't sit at Kyoko-chan's table. He sat at Nick-san's. Again, nothing unusual by itself. But then, guess who did sit at Kyoko-chan's table?"
"Who?" asked Yashiro, totally taken in by how Takimoto was telling her story.
"Atsushi-san!"
Yashiro stared at her excited face for a second, inexplicably feeling disappointed, "Oh, that's all? Well, those two have gotten close, that's not actually too surprising."
Takimoto-san scoffed, "It is actually! He usually sits with Miura-san. Maybe sits elsewhere if Miura-san isn't around, but Miura-san was there! He turned down Miura-san, a close coworker by all accounts, to sit with Kyoko-chan!"
Yashiro tried to follow this logic, "Alright, I guess that's a little unusual." Atsushi-san did tend to prefer sitting with Miura-san, as Miura-san had a toddler and Atsushi-san asked him all sorts of things about being a good dad.
"Of course it's unusual! And do you know what Tsuruga-san did?"
"I've clearly not attended enough Sunday lunches, so no," replied Yashiro dryly.
"He saw that Atsushi-san and Kyoko-chan were sitting together and having a good time, and he then moved himself and Nick-san to Oohara-san's table!"
Well that was downright befuddling, "...What?"
"Oohara-san's table was catty-corner to Kyoko-chan's and since Kyoko-chan and Atsushi-san kept telling jokes and making everyone laugh, then it had to have riled up Tsuruga-san, right?! Because there he went to Oohara-san's table, which included ladies Tsuruga-san generally tends to avoid, and then he and Nick-san totally played it up. People from each table kept including each other in all the joking going around, but guess what?"
Yashiro found himself completely absorbed by this recount of yesterday's lunch, and said, "What?!" without any shame in how high his pitch had climbed.
"Kyoko-chan and Tsuruga-san didn't once turn to each other and talk! Not once!"
Yashiro was gobsmacked, "Not once?!"
"No, not once! But guess what happened?"
"What?"
"Kyoko-chan slid her jello over to Tsuruga-san's tray when most of the rest were turned away looking at something Nick-san was doing, and was sneaky enough about it that no one said a word!"
Yashiro admired Kyoko's craftiness, even while he swooned over how cute the behavior was. It wasn't often anymore that he was surprised by Kyoko's sweetness, but he had to admit, that was downright adorable.
"Kyoko-chan must be trying to cheer him up, right? That's what I thought, but then lunch ended and everybody started going their separate ways, and when Kyoko-chan stood up, Tsuruga-san nearly dropped the glass he was drinking from!" said Takimoto-san, her features full of mirth. "He must have only just then noticed what she was wearing because he got such an agitated look on his face!" Takimoto-san giggled and Yashiro wanted to facepalm.
Having seen the nicely embroidered sweater dress Kyoko-chan had worn yesterday when they'd met up for dinner, Yashiro somewhat understood that reaction but, that boy….Yashiro focused again on Takimoto-san as she kept talking.
"So Tsuruga-san stood too, and offered her his blazer, and no lie, he said 'Mogami-san, you seem chilly, here, put this on.'"
"No, Ren, what were you thinking…" Yashiro groaned and avoided the direct gaze of the gleeful Takimoto-san.
"You should have seen the look on her face! And all she said was, 'So kind of you to offer, Tsuruga-san, but I'm not going outside.' And she just left!"
Yashiro thumped his head against his table and groaned again, "Reeeeen. Seriously? That boy…"
Takimoto-san giggled again, "Your clients are so interesting Yashiro-san!"
This had given him a kernel of an idea though, "Say, Takimoto-san...could you actually do me a favor?"
She looked up from her notebook, curious, "What do you mean Yashiro-san?"
"Actually, I've just gotten really busy, and could use your help to keep an eye on them. I'm worried about them after the things that happened Friday."
Realization dawned on her face and she nodded, "Sure thing Yashiro-san. That was such a draining scene, and they fought over it too. Sure. I could do that. I was worried about them too."
"Thank you so much for this Takimoto-san," he said, "Take some notes maybe, and just hand those to me later in the week, alright?"
"You go it, no problem!" Takimoto-san sent him a reassuring look. Yashiro was grateful though; killing two birds with one stone was but one way he knew how to increase efficiency. While he felt bad for taking up Takimoto-san's time, he got the impression it wouldn't be too much of an imposition.
"I can't say my beginnings are much to talk of, but I'll bet you had a lovely childhood hm, Commander-san? Idyllic maybe?" The words were vicious and Atsushi-san's eyes were like slits as he shot Ren a look of such loathing that Nick, who was only in the scene as Lt Burnham, grew slightly nervous.
The scene setup was such that Daisuke had approached the commander, to chat about their mutual acquaintances, but it was a thinly veiled dig to rile up the commander. It thusly degenerated into a heated exchange of words, before the commander recalled that he was the Acting Captain on shift, and needed to rise above such behavior. Nick couldn't really comprehend all the subtext himself, as he wasn't overly familiar with the Yoneda Daisuke part of the storyline. However, if Daisuke was supposed to come off as an arrogant jackass spoiling for a fight, then well, Atsushi-san played that part well.
Nick slid an uneasy glance towards Ren and saw his lips curled up into a sneer, "Yes, so idyllic: a war, a depression, it was the best of times. Perhaps you knew of it? Or were your people too preoccupied with conquest of their sister countries to give a damn?"
"I wouldn't know. I was preoccupied with hopping from orphanage to orphanage because my father was murdered for avoiding enlistment." Atsushi-san snapped back.
Nick and Miura-san exchanged discomfited looks. Miura-san, who played Interpreter Tanaka, had been instructed to translate Daisuke's and Jack's mutterings to each other to Lt Burnham in this scene. Interpreter Tanaka was primarily attached to the mission because there was a need to translate between the base personnel and the Japanese volunteers in scenes like this. Shingai called cut as Miura-san missed his cue, and all four of them stepped away to take five.
Nick rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to rub away some stress of the scene. The ship scenes were probably the most stressful part of Act Five. As Act Five began, their ship departed, and the travel scenes and battle scenes they had on the way to their destination were a complete pain in the ass. On top of the amount of effort it took to traverse the ship set itself (there were several sections to it as they were replicating the USS Butler-class Destroyer Escort Warship as best they could), the tension between Atsushi-san and Ren was becoming increasingly hazardous. Extras had even set up a betting ring the last he'd listened to the rumors, about which one would first start flinging insults outside of their roles of Yoneda Daisuke and Jack Taylor.
Nick had laughed when he'd heard, because as far as he knew, both men were complete professionals. However, their antagonistic looks and behavior during the scenes were definitely getting to Miura-san, who had missed two cues so far that afternoon. He glanced over to where Miura-san was talking with Director Shingai, and appeared to be apologizing profusely. Nick sympathized with Miura-san's plight. He was a gentle, considerate type, and was not one for confrontation. The problem therein being, both the Daisuke and Jack roles were aggressive, confrontational types. Shingai would probably set him to rights soon though; the director had been great for that the entire time they'd been shooting the show.
Nick sighed. Either way, he'd be grateful when this episode was done shooting. He was for sure not looking forward to the battle scene, and the amount of running around that it required. They'd rehearsed it just that morning, and his catnap in between that and these scenes was not near enough time for him to rest his poor leg muscles. At least I'm keeping fit? Nick thought to himself ruefully.
As Shingai set everything back up though, and called for cameras to roll again, Nick felt his stress and nervousness dwindle. Ren had been so focused all week, so exceptionally focused, that he couldn't help but be excited to act in scenes with him. This is what he'd been hired to do after all, to act as Taylor's right hand man. Nick smiled a little as he took his place next to Ren. After all their effort, he couldn't wait to see the results.
The Wednesday after Yashiro Yukihito had asked her to employ her observational skills on his clients, Takimoto Misaki was more intrigued than ever by Tsuruga Ren and Mogami Kyoko. When she'd first met them, or rather, overheard them, they'd been fighting. As they'd all been working together on Spring at Mt. Oguso, there'd been next to no fights between them. And their chemistry on-set had been undeniable. More than once she'd caught the director grinning like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. All of that had certainly sparked a great deal of interest in her about the two people in question. The past few days however, had been fascinating to observe.
Her role, Akari, only had a few scenes in Act Five. Akari visited her mother's bedside once she'd been given medicine by the base doctor, and she had a couple at the teahouse with the Akiyamas and some students, and one with Kyoko where Akari apologized to Yayoi for taking Jack's bribe. In short, she had a lot of free time this week, and the next. And that had made her able to cross-reference their schedules with her own so she could schedule prime observational time.
She'd used that time wisely. As she sat in the dining hall, waiting for Yashiro to meet her on his break, she glanced down at her notes.
Interaction 1
TR offers MK a fruit cup at lunch. (is this done in apology for Sunday lunch? Had he noticed then who gave him the gelatin dessert cup?) MK replies. 'I decline Tsuruga-san, but only because I feel you yourself would be better served for having it'. TR has no response and MK simply walks away.
Interaction 2
TR offers to use the exercise room at a later time when he discovers MK is already in it, and she only replies, 'Thank you Tsuruga-san, that's kind of you to offer, but I'll simply cut my exercise routine short. I'm sure your schedule is much heavier than mine.' (according to rumor and the events I witnessed myself, this could be a dig about last week) Once more, TR has no response, and MK walks away.
The next one she had observed the day before, and she was still pondering it. She'd happened to be in the lounge when Atsushi-san and Kyoko-chan had stopped to chat about something before Atsushi-san was to leave for the set. Nick-san and Tsuruga-san had happened across them, and it appeared that they had all been told to meet up for transport to the ship set. As more people had funneled into the lounge, she'd overheard Tsuruga-san and Kyoko-chan's quietly furious byplay. Misaki studied her notes on it, frowning.
Interaction 3
TR: "You and Atsushi-san look to be awfully chatty this week. Some might say immodestly so. You should be more careful." MK: "Your concern is noted, but is not relevant Tsuruga-san. He is merely asking questions of me for his wife. She's very sweet and appreciates my taste in clothing." MK smiles sweetly, and leaves abruptly. TR can do nothing but stare after her until someone else calls him to leave with the rest of the group.
Misaki had been able to be unnoticed enough, that she'd caught sight of Tsuruga-san's face at the time. Personally, she couldn't believe that Tsuruga Ren, of all people, would try to combat Kyoko-chan's polite demeanor by being even more pushy and controlling. It'd baffled Misaki right up until that moment when she'd caught sight of Tsuruga-san's face. As he'd stared after Kyoko-chan, a small smirk had twitched the corners of his mouth up.
What does the smirk mean? Has he actually already planned out her responses? Misaki had thought and thought about it, and had begun to realize that perhaps Tsuruga Ren's planning was out of the realm of her own experience with the opposite gender. She'd dealt primarily with boys and their ego, but perhaps Tsuruga Ren was on another playing field entirely.
If my theory is correct, the theory that they have already begun a relationship, as I began to postulate at our first read-through, then has he already learned to combat Kyoko-chan's typical responses? Why else would a man smirk in such a situation, if not because he had the upper hand? If Tsuruga-san knew being pushy and controlling would make Kyoko-chan pull up her typically polite demeanor as a defense, then what was his intent aside from that?
Misaki studied what she'd notated again. She sighed when she finally realized what she'd missed. You gave him information Kyoko-chan. Rookie mistake. Kyoko-chan had done so well so far; she'd only turned him away when he'd previously approached her. But this time, this time she'd given up good information. Whether or not Tsuruga Ren really did dislike Atsushi-san taking up so much of Kyoko-chan's time, she'd well-defined the parameters of her interactions with Atsushi-san. She had, in her own polite dismissal, reassured Tsuruga-san that there was nothing to worry about.
Misaki tsked. Rookie mistake, Kyoko-chan.
She sat there, pondering her notes, until the seat next to her was occupied by one Yashiro Yukihito, who looked a little frazzled.
"Ah...are you alright?" Misaki asked, concerned. Yashiro waved her off, mumbling something about annoying older sisters. She stared for a bit as he pulled out his planner, settled into the chair, and took a sip of water from his water bottle. When he just gestured for her to speak up, she brushed off the weird entrance, and shoved her notes his way.
He looked them over, an intrigued expression on his face. He leaned back in his chair when he was done reviewing them, and tapped the table thoughtfully.
"Your thoughts Takimoto-san?" Yashiro-san asked.
"I think Kyoko-chan is probably feeling bad about last week still, and hasn't figured out what she's going to do about it."
"Well, hasn't her behavior signalled that she disapproves of what Ren's behavior is like? Isn't that doing something?"
Misaki tilted her head in thought, "Potentially. Or she could just be an upset seventeen year old, who's been let down by a person she respects."
Yashiro-san winced, "Alright, fair point."
"I think Tsuruga-san, however, has taken that into consideration," said Misaki.
She studied Yashiro-san as he stroked his chin and looked down at the notes in front of him. "How so?" he asked.
"I think he's deliberately trying to provoke her into a different reaction. In his mind, it's a war of attrition."
Yashiro-san's eyebrows flew up in surprise, "You think so?"
Misaki shrugged, "To be completely honest, at our first read-through, I caught part of an argument they were having. Kyoko-chan acted like she's acting now, and all that did was make Tsuruga-san frustrated. He got more emotional, and was more reactionary. From my observation these past few days, he's taken her reactions into account this time. And he's trying to provoke her into doing something else. And I think, he may have gotten his first win yesterday."
She tapped her notes titled Interaction 3 and Yashiro-san peered at it again, before looking back up at her skeptically. Misaki said nothing else though, and he eventually let out a sigh.
"Interesting theory, to be sure, Ren playing the long game. I think more observation is required. What do you say, you in?" Yashiro-san raised his eyebrows and smiled. Misaki couldn't help but let out a quiet giggle at the mischievous expression.
"You're a terrible gossip Yashiro-san."
To her surprise, he winked at her audaciously, and said, "Birds of a feather."
She blushed, and had to glance away from the knowing smirk on his face. Just then, Yashiro-san's phone rang, startling the both of them. He put on a glove, and pulled out his phone, then looked back up at her with a curious glint in his eye.
"Takimoto-san, as repayment for your efforts, would you like a peek into what I do behind the scenes?"
She nodded, undeniably intrigued by the look on his face as he answered his phone and put it on speaker, bringing his forefinger to his lips to signal for her silence.
"Moshi moshi Konoe-san."
"Moshi moshi. You were right Yashiro-san." Misaki eyed the man in front of her warily as the smirk on Yashiro-san's face grew. He said nothing though, and this 'Konoe-san' kept talking.
"You knew how leery I was, especially before my discussion with Ogata-san on this matter, but Yashiro-san, you were right. I'll be damned, but you were right. But first, did Momose-san's information check out?" Momose-san? thought Misaki faintly. What was going on here?!
"Absolutely it did, Konoe-san. I confirmed it myself with four different talent agency executives. Harassment claims were filed for the cast that were from those agencies and at least six different people have revised their contracts with their agencies to specifically state they would not work with anyone from the Morizumi family, under any condition."
Through the speaker, a low whistle could be heard. Misaki could only stare as Yashiro-san's smirk only grew more wolfish and he spoke again.
"All of this appears to have been kept out of the news cycles. The Morizumis have influence to be sure, but LME has the power to put a stop to that. And, well, guess whose talents have now been affected?"
"My, oh my. What have those people been up to?" Konoe-san laughed a little. Misaki's gaze flicked between the phone and the man in front of her, dumbfounded at the implications of their discussion. Yashiro just smiled sunnily back at her in return, and she valiantly tried to do the same, but knew the effort was weak.
"Well Konoe-san, it's your turn now. What will you do?" asked Yashiro-san.
The man on the phone laughed again, "Lay a trap, naturally."
"I do like how your mind works, Konoe-san."
"As ever Yashiro-san, Konoe Productions appreciates your patronage."
"And as ever Konoe-san, Riverbank Productions gracefully accepts. Pleasure doing business with you."
"Indeed." The call disconnected with that, and Misaki just sat there, stunned. Yashiro-san seemed willing to patiently wait her out.
Finally, she managed to croak out, "You...You're the backer Riverbank?" Misaki's voice rose as she connected the dots.
Their production team from Spring at Mt. Oguso had sent out a cast and crew picture to their backers recently, thanking them for their support, and Riverbank had been on the list. Misaki knew this, because she'd been pulled with a few others, to fold the damn brochures they'd put in with the pictures. Consequently, she could now name all of Oguso's backers without even straining her memory.
But Yashiro only laughed, and said, "In an effort to be completely transparent, I'm Acting CFO and COO, not the head of Riverbank."
"Who...who.." Misaki completed that thought herself, "TSURUGA-SAN?" she screeched, her voice loud and jarring. Yashiro-winced and motioned for her to keep it down. But all Misaki could do was sit there, and reframe everything she knew about Tsuruga Ren and Yashiro Yukihito in light of this revelation.
"Did you two..did you really just blacklist an entire family on behalf of Riverbank Productions?" she finally sputtered, having asked a question that she suddenly didn't know if she wanted an answer to.
Yashiro-san's face grew far more serious than she'd anticipated though, and his answer was short and direct, "Yes."
Misaki stared, "But...how? Why?"
Yashiro-san sipped at his water as he studied her. He set down his water bottle, then asked, "Do you want the long answer or the short one?"
"Either is fine, I guess," she replied feebly.
"In short, the Morizumis have been harrassing and terrorising various talents for some time. I've got evidence dating back at least three years. LME, Ren, and myself first took notice of the issues they caused on the set of Purple Down, but we were able to successfully avoid it's escalation at the time. Then it came up again when Kyoko-san gained a role with Kotonami-san on the set of A Sacred Lotus in the Mire this summer; and it occured again with a recent production of Ogata-san's."
"I get the why I suppose then...but you're...you're just part of LME. This...this seems like police should be involved at this point or legal action should have been taken. How…" Misaki trailed off as Yashiro-san nodded along.
"Essentially, we needed information to act on. Even then though, I couldn't have acted on what I knew by myself, because I didn't have enough industry influence to do anything, with one exception," Yashiro paused and adjusted his glasses, then spoke again.
"Ren and I founded Riverbank Productions last winter. That was complicated to start out with, but Ren was determined to have something else he could do within this industry. So we invested well, and put out feelers to people who would accept financial backing from us for their projects. We had to become known as reliable financial backers before we were able to gain enough influence to start handling problem cases we came across, and we had come across a few by then."
Misaki could understand that. It was simply smart planning to try to do several things within the industry. Especially when your typical work was primarily that of modeling or acting, and you didn't want to have to depend on that work to keep you afloat.
"For this specific issue, we got some handy information this summer that we could work with. We got more when Momose-san and Ogata mentioned their recent problems, and now, because we helped fund Ogata-san's most recent production, and put backing behind Konoe-san for his current production, Konoe-san is now able to spring a trap."
"I don't...this is...so this is what managers do when they're not escorting their talent, eh?" It was a weak joke, but Misaki was grateful that Yashiro-san chuckled anyway.
"We at LME take threats very seriously. We're here to help our talent, and to support them. They're the lifeblood of our agency after all. We do what we must." His expression softened, even as his tone was serious, and Misaki understood. She smiled back, and was happy that it felt natural. But she made sure to store in her memory, the reminder to never, ever get on LME's bad side.
...
Thanks for reading.
-artsy