Hi fandom fam!

As promised in the previous chapter, I'm switching my upload dates to Saturdays from now on instead of Mondays. This week, we are back in the "present", Kyoko's origin story arc having come to an end.

Also, welcome to Natsu's World of Pain and Torment! Kyoko wouldn't be complete without her portrayal of the teenaged sociopath. ;) And Ren wouldn't be complete as well without a Rick-centric tragedy in the past. However, for this story, I've changed the impact of the tragedy on Ren. Instead of being only consumed by guilt and self-loathing, Ren has learned to cope by channeling his guilt and self-loathing into a deep desire for vengeance. Hopefully it adds more layers of depth to his character… and doesn't turn him into annoyingly-emo Sasuke. Haha

Mailbag and Japanese translations are below per usual.

Hope you enjoy~!

-K

CH 5

- Present day -

'Boring… It's all so boring…'

Yumika could practically read the thought on her leader's placid face.

Kitazawa Natsu sighed and tucked her short auburn hair behind one ear. Sitting in the karaoke booth next to Kaori, she crossed her long legs and skimmed through her classical literature textbook.

Yumika felt a nervous thrill run from her pigtails down her spine. She knew that Natsu already understood all of her literature material. That's partially why this new game was so cruel.

Still, Yumika soldiered on with the play. "So~ next question! For 50 points…Who…" Yumika trailed off for dramatic effect, eyes skewering the target in front of her. "Who wrote Genji Monogatari?"

Lately, Natsu had been getting bored of playing with the delicate little girls from their school. Such entertainment had reached its diminishing returns. Thus, when the group was out shopping and Kaori had spotted one of their male classmates sneaking around, her suggestion made Natsu nearly pink with pleasure.

The victim, one Takemura Ryuji, battled the tears in his eyes, his lower lip trembling uncontrollably. His hands were tied behind his back, then tied to his feet, forcing him to kneel. Behind him, Tsugumi stepped on the rope to ensure he didn't move. She tossed her straight bangs out of her face so she could better focus on the task at hand.

Natsu had deemed this a "right hand" and a "left arm" kind of play. After all, one had to be careful not to let one's prey escape. But the extra effort had only promised to make this game more exciting than the last. It was one thing to dominate and humiliate a fragile, young girl. It was another to meticulously crush the spirit of a young man.

However, Yumika could tell that Natsu was thoroughly disappointed with the results. And that was really all that mattered.

Also noting that Natsu had gone back to idly flipping through her textbook, Tsugumi pouted at the assigned interrogator and whined, "Yumika, that question's way too easy!"

Glancing back at her, Yumika shrugged and motioned pointedly at their quivering prey as if to say, 'What? That's the best this guy can do.'

Ryuji whimpered and glanced down at box cutter stuck, blade-down in the karaoke booth's fake linoleum floor about half a meter from the center of his legs.

"Contestant-san, you are running out of time!" Yumika said, her playful tone revealed to be a mockery by the malicious smirk that painted her face. She began to dramatically count down on her fingers. "5… 4… 3… 2…!"

"G-Genji…?"

Next to Natsu on the couch, Kaori snickered.

"Bubuuu!" Yumika pursed her lips playfully and mimicked the sound of a buzzer. "I'm sorry, Contestant-san, but that answer is wrong~!"

Ceremoniously, Yumika picked up the box cutter, stepped "50 points" closer toward the crotch of Ryuji's pants, and dropped the knife. With a solid thump, the blade sunk menacingly into the soft flooring. It was only centimeters away now. A terrified scream echoed through the booth.

"IYAHHH! No! No! Please stop!"

While Tsugumi restrained the panicking captive, Yumika glanced at Natsu to catch her reaction.

Absolute boredom.

Kaori caught this too and sighed. "Ne, Natsu~!"

Their leader looked up from her textbook.

"You don't need to study that much," Kaori said with a pout. "You always get good grades anyway, especially in classical literature."

Sneaking a glance at the boy, Yumika saw his breath hitch as he fought back tears, but his eyes stayed glued to Natsu. A small spark of hope played across the boy's face.

Yumika nearly scoffed. The fool thought they were going to let him go if they were done with this game.

Ignoring her prey's expectant eyes, Natsu tipped her head to the side playfully, nearly twinkling at her best friend.

"Hmmm, I guess you're right, Kaori. Besides… someone isn't helping me to study at all."

A graceful flick of her wrist, and she closed her textbook with a sharp snap. The atmosphere in the room dropped a couple degrees as she stood and crossed the room to face her newest plaything. Suppressing a giggle, Yumika relished that the hope slid off Ryuji's face like ice off a hotplate.

As for herself, Yumika took her cue, jerking the box cutter from the floor and sheathing the blade.

"What game do you want to play next, Nacchan?" Tsugumi asked eagerly, still holding the now limp second-year in place.

The heels of Natsu's school shoes clacked as she walked across the tiled floor. She put a thoughtful hand to her face, tilting her head while she eyed the boy, like a cat considering a particularly distasteful but vulnerable mouse.

"Truth or dare…"

Getting her orders, Tsugumi untied the rope that bound Ryuji's hands to his feet. Even though truth or dare was a Western game, it was one of Natsu's favorites whenever they had a new plaything. Truth gave the group blackmail material; dare gave them more fun – and sometimes more blackmail material if Tsugumi decided to film it on her phone.

"So Ryuji-kun," Natsu stood over her classmate and shifted her weight to the side, emphasizing one slender hip. A strand of auburn hair fell over her face as she smiled from above, eyes devoid of joy. "Truth… or dare?"

Yumika was somewhat surprised. It was rare that Natsu directly partook in the play herself; she usually furthered her own enjoyment by sullying the hands of others. But none of the girls stopped to question her. Yumika stepped back to help Tsugumi while Kaori brought a chair for Natsu to sit.

As for their unwilling victim, though slightly distracted by the bully leader's long legs as she gracefully took her seat, Ryuji paused. Yumika could nearly hear the rusty wheels grinding into gear in his head. She knew he was considering the potential pain behind a "dare" – Ryuji shivered – but another look of horror crossed his face.

Ah, he was thinking about what would happen if he chose truth. Apparently someone would be none too happy if he spilled whatever intel he possessed. Most likely his father, Yumika guessed, based on her understanding of his family situation.

Their male classmate looked up, uncertain and trembling. "D-dare…?"

Yumika and Tsugumi automatically turned to their leader. The verdict?

Natsu smiled prettily and, looking Ryuji straight in the eye, shook her head slowly from side to side.

Giggling, Tsugumi shoved his shoulder roughly.

"Are you brainless or are you deaf?" she asked, exasperated. "Nacchan asked you a question: truth or dare?"

"B-but, I said–"

"Hmmm?" Kaori called out innocently, holding a hand to her ear. "I didn't hear you say anything!"

Amused, Yumika watched as realization dawned on Ryuji. The fool had actually believed he had the freedom of choice.

Eyes now twinkling, Natsu apparently also relished the look of utter defeat that crossed the boy's face as he hung his head in resignation.

"…Truth…"

"Mmmm…" Kaori leaned in and murmured to Natsu, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "He's a sharp one."

The charismatic young woman merely smiled in agreement, keeping her eyes fixed on her prey.

"Truth… hm." Natsu pretended to think for a moment. When she next spoke, her voice was low and sultry. "Takemura-kun, please enlighten us. Who were you going to meet at that love hotel today?"

Ryuji visibly flinched. Apparently Natsu had asked the one question he did not want to answer.

"I-I don't know what you mean…" he mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

Kaori's hand twitched briefly, before she smirked and leaned back, watching. The group's "right arm" had been prepared to deliver a swift backhand as punishment for lying, until they all saw the spark of interest in Natsu's eye. Kaori knew, as they all did, that her best friend was going to punish their schoolmate for lying. But not before coaxing him into a false sense of security.

The auburn-haired leader motioned with one hand to Tsugumi and Yumika. Catching onto her meaning, the two girls immediately hoisted Ryuji to his knees and dragged him close enough to lick their leader's shoes.

Uncrossing her slender legs, Natsu leaned forward until her face was only inches from Ryuji's. An elegant hand came up to lightly brush a stray piece of hair off his sweaty forehead. As if captivated by her alluring beauty, Ryuji didn't move.

"Now, now, Takemura-kun," Natsu crooned. "The son of a politician should be able to lie better than that…"

Broken out of his stupor, Ryuji stuttered, "B-but if my dad finds out…"

He blushed as Natsu's fingernail traced the line of his jaw. Appearing to sense a weakness in her opponent, she leaned forward so her face was inches from the boy's ear.

"Don't worry, Ryuji-kun…" Natsu murmured sensuously.

From behind the boy's head, Yumika could see that Natsu's eyes were empty and viciously cold – viper-like.

"Your secret will be safe with me."

-x-

"Goodness, Kyoko-chan, Amamiya-san… Remind me to never get on your bad sides," Yashiro muttered into their earpieces.

Still dressed as Natsu, Kyoko laughed nervously and fingered her Princess Rosa necklace. She didn't know whether to accept the compliment or wallow in shame as she and Chiori traveled back to Shinjuku.

After seeing Makino Honami and Sudo Yuka off at the train station, Kyoko and Chiori had taken their own train, then rendezvoused with their ride back to LME. The other two girls, who acted as Kaori and Tsugumi respectively, had a separate meet up site with their ride, because they were both headed out for another mission in northern Tokyo.

In the back of one of the president's less flamboyant cars, Chiori chuckled at their tech support's response to witnessing via hidden camera their "bully group" at work.

"Don't worry, Yashiro-san. It is just acting after all," she said nonchalantly. "Although it might not be the nicest way to extract the information, it's not like we actually hurt him... physically. I also guarantee that Representative Takemura's son has no idea that we are actually his body guards while at school."

"And apparently you're keeping him out of trouble while outside of school," Yashiro conceded. Kyoko could imagine him shaking his head sadly as he said, "With so much opportunity laid out in front of that young man, I cannot believe he is spending his free time doing illicit drugs – dealt out of a love hotel of all places!"

Meanwhile as Kyoko further contemplated her actions, a dark gloom had settled over her. She mumbled from her assumed fetal position, "Perhaps there will be a good outcome from our time spent with Takemura-san after all. Perhaps he will be too scared to go back to get more drugs… Perhaps he won't be scarred for life and won't have PTSD and won't…"

Chiori sighed, clearly exasperated. Mission in mind, Chiori had led Kyoko at least five blocks away from the karaoke shop before allowing her fellow LME agent to drop her act as Natsu.

Otherwise Kyoko would have reflexively sprinted back to dogeza apologize to their classmate.

The first LoveMe girl watched as a thick, dark shadow loomed over Chiori's face. Kyoko knew that her fellow LoveMe member mentally was railing against their mark, whom Chiori had on many occasions ridiculed as an 'entitled, spoiled brat who thought that money could buy whatever he wanted' – among other sharp-tongued insults.

Chiori struggled to wipe the maliciousness from her visage, clearly bottling up her dark thoughts to later be unleashed on her poison notebook. Kyoko, though usually fearless in the field, tried to subtly inch away from her friend.

Aloud, Chiori grumbled, "What could Delta want with Representative Takemura's son anyway? What could they possibly gain?"

They both knew that if it weren't for the Delta threat, neither would have been bothered to guard such a boy.

"We don't know much yet about Delta's motives. The Dark Moon virus we planted in their system is taking a while," admitted Yashiro. "But fortunately, Kijima-san and Momose-san are both finally out of the hospital this Friday."

Now thoroughly distracted from her dark thought pattern, Chiori shook her head in wonderment. "How those two survived a blast like that with only a couple of lacerations, some rib fractures, and moderate concussions is beyond me. They're lucky to be alive!"

Over the comm link, the girls could hear Yashiro typing on his keyboard to bring up the incident report on his screen. "Hmmm, it seems that there was a delay in the explosion, which allowed the two to run for cover. Also, the suspect's bomb didn't have a very large blast radius. Apparently, the medical examination missed the detonator and explosives implanted in the suspect's teeth because they were designed to be the same density as the teeth themselves– very easy to overlook on X-ray, but undoubtedly difficult and expensive to manufacture…"

"With such high-tech equipment, Delta is probably a very well-funded and large organization," the LoveMe Number Three girl piped up, sounding supremely frustrated.

Kyoko sighed deeply and scrunched her eyes closed, thinking. "They also knew quite a bit about LME. The guy we caught knew about Agent T and my call signs. He also knew about the President."

Maybe that was why Tsuruga-san had been so absent recently. Maybe he knew how dangerous Delta was and was working harder than ever to shut them down. But he could have at least told her – even if she couldn't have helped, inexperienced as she was.

Recently he had been so distant, even though Kyoko had been certain that for almost half a year, they had been getting closer – especially after that mission when Sawara had assigned her to cover for Yashiro as Ren's tech support when he was sick. Maybe that feeling of closeness was only one-sided after all…

"However," said Yashiro, interrupting Kyoko's cheerless thoughts. "Even though it's slow and difficult, the computer virus Kyoko-chan, Ren, and Momose-san previously planted in their operating system has helped while gathering intel. The highest levels of the system are expertly encrypted, but we are able to learn things like who they're going to strike next. Hence, the President has ordered you four to guard Representative Takemura's son while he's at school."

Curiosity piqued, Chiori tilted her head to the side. "Speaking of Tsuruga-san, ever since the President gave the briefing about Delta, I haven't seen him around HQ as often. Is he doing more missions than normal? But then shouldn't you be paired with him, Kyoko-san? After all, you two are partners—"

Hearing her own miserable situation voiced aloud, Kyoko's gloom swiftly returned, even deeper than before. Her muttering grew more and more unintelligible as she descended into her own dark thoughts.

"Delta… Tsuruga-san… more scary than normal… but won't tell me… just a lowly kouhai…"

Back-pedaling at Kyoko's rapid emotional decline, Chiori raised her hands and laughed nervously, "K-Kyoko-san, sorry for mentioning it! Just forget I said anything… Ahaha…ha…"

As if catching the drift of Kyoko's mood, Yashiro piped up via their comms, "Kyoko-chan, Amamiya-san is right! Like I said a couple days ago, you don't have to worry about that guy. Ren might be working himself really hard lately, and not telling anyone what is wrong, and might be more upset than usual, and sometimes going off on his own–"

Chiori was now physically propping up Kyoko to prevent her from sliding off the car seat into a depressed human puddle on the floor mats. Past her gloom, Kyoko heard Chiori hiss a couple of choice words at Yashiro over a private comms line.

Over the shared line in the car, Yashiro scrambled to try and rectify the situation. "I-I mean…. Uh… Kyoko-chan, are you too tired for one more briefing? It appears that Kotonami-san may need assistance with an upcoming assignment–."

Huh. Moko-san? Moko-san needed her help?

"YES! I'm not too tired!" With almost unnerving speed, Kyoko snapped out of her funk and sat upright, eyes shining and hands clasped together in front of her. "Moko– I mean – Kotonami-san needs my help!"

Despite the recent awkward interactions with Tsuruga-san, Kyoko felt her mood brighten slightly. She would finally get to spend some time with her beloved best number one friend and then would go the PSIA HQ to assist the Kimagure Unit later that night.

However, Kyoko's preoccupation was not enough to distract her fully.

All throughout the night, even as she returned to the Muse's costume department after assisting the Ishibashi-onii-sans, her heart continued to feel tight in her chest.

What was Tsuruga-san thinking? How could she help him?

-x-

"So help me, Ren— I will throw you in the LoveMe group for a year!"

Ren tried to take the President seriously, since Lory was actually seriously exasperated with his top agent, and it was a very serious threat. But it was exceptionally difficult to consider anyone serious when they were wrapped in a period-replica Roman toga and flanked by two armless marble statues of demi-gods in the nude.

Trying to ignore the President's bizarre hobby, Ren put on his most repentant face. "President, as you are well aware, up until now no one has ever complained about my ability to act out love."

President Takarada groaned and sunk into his opulent throne, his head lolling against the back as he grumbled mostly to himself, "This naïve, intractable child…"

Ren was slightly frustrated as well. His statement was the truth. None of his fellow field agents had ever complained that his acting was subpar. He had been partnered with several of the female LME operatives on one mission or another, oftentimes involving the two sneaking around under the cover of a lovey-dovey couple. Not a single one had commented badly about him. Much to Ren's dismay, it was often quite the extreme opposite.

He'd had to firmly but politely decline the advances of several colleagues on three separate occasions. One woman in particular had been quite persistent, but the situation had eventually resolved itself.

Even the mission with Itsumi and Kyoko, which may have been jeopardized due to a minor slip-up on his end, had been salvaged with no one the wiser. He had read Itsumi's report on the matter, and Momose-san had been generous to him in her report. Mogami-san hadn't yet been an official LME agent, so she hadn't even submitted a report. So what was the President's problem?

Ren shifted uncomfortably as a small seed of doubt began to sprout in his mind.

Had the President figured him out? He had… hadn't he?

Agent T watched in hidden but mounting horror as the President's hardened gaze shifted toward him. As Ren's trepidation grew, it took all of his self-control to override his instinct to dive out of his chair and sprint for the door.

He knew. The President had done what he did best: he had read between the lines.

Itsumi's report, as Ren had read it, had not placed the blame on the male operative but on poor timing. However, the President had figured out what Ren already knew.

Lory had discovered that Ren had never been in love. And Ren's lack of experience had caused him to act poorly, which, along with some bad timing, had thrown the entire mission into jeopardy.

What a scary intuition. No wonder that Lory Takarada, formerly known as code name Monster, was one of the most secretly decorated and successful covert agents Japan had never known.

A thrill of fear sought its way down Ren's spine. It was only a couple more leaps of logic before the master spy intuited why his top agent had been away from LME so often recently.

Lory narrowed his eyes as if reading Ren's thoughts. Agent T tried to swallow the lump in his throat as subtly as he could. He waited for the guillotine to drop.

Instead the President blinked once and changed the topic. "Ren, why have you been volunteering for those solo missions down in Yokohama?"

A different guillotine had dropped. A much more deadly guillotine.

Thinking quickly, the tall man shot back nonchalantly, "Why did you approve me for those solo missions down in Yokohama?"

"Only the avoidant answer a question with another question."

"Only the uninformed answer questions with sophistry."

With a small, ironic bark of laughter, the President said, "Well, I shall be blunt then. You're taking those special missions, because after all these years and after all your promises to me, you're still trying to find Rick's murderer. "

It took every ounce of Ren's acting ability to fight off his look of surprise. The operative was indeed shocked – not only because every word was true – the President discovered that Ren had been going back on his word. The President had also somehow learned about the link between Rick and Delta.

But Ren was also shocked because Lory hadn't actually uncovered the real reason the senior agent was so frequently absent from LME. Ren was actually leaving HQ for weeks at a time to avoid his assigned kouhai. He hadn't known how to deal with the situation and decided a full retreat was the best solution.

Ever since she had substituted for Yashiro as Ren's tech support on that one mission when he had come back dog-sick, and soon after that, when Ren found the blue rock in her living-quarters…

Wait.

Lost in his thoughts, Ren stalled to halt. Since when had he considered avenging Rick a secondary goal— especially to something as trivial as avoiding Mogami-san?

"Ren."

Wide-eyed in his uncertainty, Ren quickly looked up to see his boss examining him with concern.

"Ren," Lory repeated his name kindly, his eyes unable to hide their deep sadness. "I once told you that only death awaits you at the end of your path toward revenge."

Ren remained silent, still unsettled by his own private epiphany.

"You know how to be consumed by the dark obsession of vengeance. You know what it feels like to lose control due to rage," President Takarada pointed out, steepling his fingers together. "But you have never been consumed by the obsession of love. You don't know how it feels to lose control of your emotions and actions for someone you love."

Agent T opened his mouth to interject.

Lory raised his hand and a wry smirk crossed the man's lips. "And I don't mean those empty flings you had in America before we met."

Ren couldn't respond to that.

"Your love acting is atrocious," Lory continued, not lecturing but speaking nonchalantly, as if discussing a simple fact. "It lacks depth and conviction, because you have never been in love."

The agent was again pensively silent. He knew a frown darkened his brow.

"I have my own theories as to why you have yet to fall in love," Lory said. Ren inwardly cringed as he waited for the other shoe to drop. Instead, the LME president merely shrugged and said ominously with a little smile, "But perhaps we ought to wait and see what you will do about it…"

"President…" Ren began.

Lory dismissed his subordinate's interjection with a lazy wave of his hand. "I trust you will tell me more about the connection between Rick and Delta when the time is right?"

After pausing to consider, Ren nodded silently. He rose from the couch and bowed deeply at the waist. Then, he turned to leave.

Once outside the room, the dark-haired man closed the door, leaned against it and sighed heavily. It was nerve-wracking keeping a solid act up in front of the President. Ren knew that if Lory hadn't pinned his erratic mission choices on his obsession with finding Rick's murderer, the master spy would have sniffed the truth out in no time.

That would have been disastrous. If the President had any indication that Ren was showing interest in a woman, even in avoidance, the "Love-Monster" would have thrown his agent a parade. Or worse, encouraged him to pursue her.

Ren was no fool, though. He knew that his avoidance of Kyoko was the prelude to something… Something he couldn't quite identify yet – but Agent T knew that if there was even a slight chance of these uncomfortable feelings being love, he needed to nip them in the bud, then uproot the plant, and set it ablaze.

Being a good agent, getting back to America, finding Rick's killer – that was the most important.

Nodding his head firmly to himself, Ren began a brisk walk down the hall. He needed to be alone, needed somewhere to think. Ms. Woods always had a small section in the back of her costume department where no one ever went.

Ren stopped to talk cordially with several co-workers who ran into him in the halls before excusing himself. His smile and small talk ran on autopilot while his mind was a thousand miles away.

How could he meet the President's challenge of improving his acting ability? How could he learn to act out love when he had never been in love? When he had no desire or right to fall in love?

Once in the elevator, Ren ran a large hand down his face and sighed. No idea.

At least the President hadn't really stuck him in the LoveMe group.

Genji Monogatari – The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature written in the 11th century. I couldn't really think of another work that would be taught in a Japanese classical literature class, so I came up with the obvious one. Bragging rights to anyone who can name the real author without Googling it!

"IYAH!" – a colloquial exclamation, shortened version of "iya da" or literally "I don't like it". It's used as a refusal or "STOP!"

Onii-san – colloquial term for "big brother" – Kyoko uses it to refer to the Kimagure trio because they're older and more senior than her.

cleocat333 – Yes! Someone picked up on it! You have no idea how happy as an author this makes me – that someone picked up on the subtext of the situation and the emotional/motivational undercurrent. From my understanding of the manga, Sho is not the vicious sociopath that many fanfics paint him as. He's just a selfish jerk whose biggest vices are immaturity and pride. But I feel like especially in more recent chapters, though he is still a nuisance as the third party in Skip Beat's love triangle, Nakamura-sensei is indicating that he is maturing as a person. He does care for Kyoko (but still not as much as Ren does~! Hehehe).

ladygraywolf – Hmmmm, I know that a lot of other fanfic authors have come up with names for the currently unnamed characters. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, none of these names are canon. (sad face) I sense there's going to be an upcoming arc where Sho's parents visit and we'll FINALLY get Sho's father's real, honest-to-God, canon name. Haha Thanks for reviewing and liking the way I have the characters interact. In the future, Sho and Kyoko will butt heads more, but hopefully it's not out of control! If you find a manga chappie with Fuwa's real name, let me know! :D

JeremyVD – I semi-agree! I am totally with you in that Sho is self-centered and selfish. That's his biggest vice (that causes all of his other vices lol), that he is proud and therefore feels entitled to coming out at the top of every situation. However, I disagree slightly because I think Sho (at least in this version) like all of us, says things out of his pride that he doesn't always mean. He can sense that it's going to come around to bite him in the butt in the end, but in his immaturity and arrogance, he can't help himself. Agreed on the final point, though – at this point, the biggest person Sho loves is himself! Hopefully, we will see that change over time. ;)

DreamIdol – Indeed! Hope that I'll continue to amuse and surprise you as the story goes on!

MWEH –I'm glad it wasn't too far of a stretch that the workaholic, detail-oriented, perfectionist Tsuruga Ren made such a big blunder! Haha

Thank you all, as always, for your views, your faves, your alerts, and your reviews! I'm going to continue to update on Saturdays from now on.

By the way, I've just finished Ready Player One and Armada by Ernest Cline. LOVED THEM. Does anyone have any recommendations for other books similar to these? I really need more audiobooks to help me escape from my morning and nightly commute.

Until next week!