AN: Again some scenes from the manga were used but I tweaked them a little bit so that they could enter into this fic without disturbing the flow. The next chapter will also be about the audition and the reason this is out this early is that I couldn't sleep

on first draft i accidentally put cabbage instead of daikon. it was 4 am though

Act 8 – The Auditions Begin

There was a good chance that Maria's influence was the reason that she had even been allowed into the audition process and maybe it was her hard work that had made it so that the Taisho at the restaurant lend her something very precious to him. Now she had everything all set for her audition and she was going to impress them. She was also studying for her entrance exam for the school that Corn had given her information for and she was making two dolls. One was a curse doll of Shotaro and the other was a charm doll of Ren.

"Whose child is this!?" Kyoko heard someone yell but she didn't want anything to distract her from preparing for her audition, she needed to keep her mind pinned to her desire, a position in the talent department of the agency. "Who brings a child to an audition!?" the girl yelled and Kyoko looked up to see a classy looking woman. She had on fashionable clothes and makeup and definitely looked more like a star than Kyoko did.

However, it was talent that was needed to pass these auditions and this girl might not have what it took to make it. Kyoko hummed as she saw a few people gathering around Maria and making sure she was okay. Kyoko put down the items for her curse doll and stood outside of the group.

"Can you leave her alone?" She asked and stared at Maria, she had a feeling what Maria needed and these overbearing girls were making fools of themselves. "I mean, you really don't know what you're doing. A child doesn't need to be mothered like that," she said before pinching Maria hard on the shoulder and the girls gasped backing away from her. "Don't cry," she said, "it'll just make things worse."

"You two are horrible to children," one of the girls said, "I wouldn't let either one of you get into the agency," she said and Kyoko frowned.

"Fortunately you don't get to make that decision," Kyoko said, "It's -" she was about to continue but she paled when she heard the other girl yelling.

"Mo!" she said with a harsh laugh, "Don't compare me to some homey girl like her. Her housewife appearance is disgraceful. I would never let someone like that be associated with me, Mo," she said and Kyoko blinked before sharing a look with Maria and sighed. She didn't want to pay attention to this person. She didn't need to be insulted. Fortunately Ren didn't insult her like that. Hearing those words being said by Corn would devastate her.

"Good luck," Maria smiled to her before skipping off and Kyoko heard her group being called to the stage. She took a deep breath in before following the rest of the group. She was the additional number to the group and everyone else looked so put together. Maybe she should have asked Corn for help but his dreams were important enough to him for him to give up being prince in the fairy kingdom. She didn't want him to become angry that she was doing all of this to get revenge.

…..

…..

As Maria left the audition room and was walking down the hallway, her face lit up as she noticed Ren and Yashiro walking down the hallways. She ran over to Ren eagerly who picked her up in his arms and he grinned to her. "Ren," Maria said forgetting that Kyoko wasn't going to tell him for her own reasons. "Guess what, I just went to the audition room and Nee-chan was there."

"Nee…chan?" Ren asked before smiling. He didn't know who she was referring to but the fact that she had someone to talk to like a big sister was something that made him happy. Maria had problems with her own family, it would be nice if she considered someone other than him an unrelated older sibling. He looked at her, "There's something that you're calling nee-chan?" he asked and Maria froze.

"You know, Kyoko-chan" she said and Ren looked at her in shock and bewilderment. "I don't know her reasons," Maria lied, "Maybe she thought that she could get closer to you if she was a talent."

"If she was a talent?" Ren repeated he looked back at Yashiro but the manager didn't seem to offer much help. He shook his head. Maybe he had inspired her but he wanted her to be happy with what she was doing in her life and he wondered whether her being a talent was what she wanted to do. He would respect her choice if she had a passion for it but if it was just to get closer to him then he wished that she had just told him that.

"I can't really crash an audition process," he said as he turned to Yashiro hoping that he had the answer and Yashiro nodded.

"We have to get to our next location anyway," he said and Ren hummed.

Ren placed Maria down on the ground, "Thank you for telling me this, Maria," he told her and Maria blushed.

"Do your best!" she called out to him and Ren grinned at her before nodding. He turned his attention to Yashiro.

"I really didn't think that she had this kind of interest in the acting world," he said before thinking about what Maria had said. This was a girl who had followed a guy to Tokyo only to be used by him. A lot of girls would have questioned what he had been doing when he wasn't with them but Kyoko had just sat patiently and waited for her so-called prince to return to her side. The same thing might sadly be happening at this time.

If she wanted to be a talent and look into hosting a talk show then she still had a lot to learn and maybe she should try to attend the training school, he wouldn't mind sponsoring her in that as well. He just didn't want her to be doing it for him or because of him.

"You care about this girl, don't you?" Yashiro asked him and Ren nodded. "Well, I can't pretend that you getting involved with her isn't going to make the media speculate but I should be rooting for your happiness. You're pretty much the cleanest actor at your level. The press have been hungering for something other than your impeccable work ethic for a while."

"Is that so?" Ren asked with a grin, "Maybe I should give them something to speculate on, huh?" he asked and Yashiro quickly shook his head trying to reject the idea. "It's not going to be Mogami-san though. We only have strictly platonic relations, she's a childhood friend. I don't think that it should be seen as a troublesome thing for me to have at least one friend."

"Of course not," Yashiro quickly replied, "Heaven forbid you should ever think of me as your friend, you're too detached from everyone around you, you pretend that you aren't but you seem to keep a wall up."

Ren blinked, "You want to be my friend?" he asked him and Yashiro sighed.

"Yes, Ren. I would like to think that our working relationship includes some element of friendship after all of these years," he said as he checked the schedule again and Ren smiled at him.

"Then that would mean I have more than one friend, wouldn't it?" he asked as they entered the garage of LME. He walked over to the car. "That makes me feel pretty special now, doesn't it?"

…

…

Kyoko stood on stage, prepared for what they might throw at her. She didn't want to let them down and she had Maria and even Ren backing her, although the president didn't know that that Ren wasn't even aware that she was here. He had entered in such a bright and flashy style that her head was still spinning as she attempted to take it all in.

"Please tell us why you're interested in entering LME as a talent," she was asked and Kyoko smiled before grabbing the microphone. She would speak as honestly as she always did and maybe they would give her a chance.

"I want to catch up with Sho Fuwa from the Akatoki Agency as soon as possible," she said clearly only to be met by wide eyes and the sound of crickets. She could hear people gossiping about her being a fangirl but she didn't react to that. She was clear in her mission and she wasn't going to let anyone deter her from it. This was a plan that she wanted to see through to the end.

The buzz around the studio was growing louder and louder and she could hear people laughing but she wasn't going to let the laughter break her. Shotaro had already tried to break her worse than any of the simple-minded girls who wanted to be actresses and singers.

"This is the girl who is friends with Ren, right?" Matsushima asked as Sawara looked a little nervous. He had seen first hand that there was something different about this girl. No, not in a show business way but some sort of paranormal activity. Maria had some interest in curses, could this girl actually be a witch.

"I was hoping that Ren would have coached her for this," Nakazawa complained. "I mean, I'm glad she's not using her connection to him but could she actually be using him? She wants to be the first member of the Fuwa fan club," he groaned but all three of them stared at the president as he started to talk, his interest in her showing in his facial expression.

"I wouldn't be so sure," he said, "If the girl was just after Sho Fuwa she would've applied to the same agency in my opinion," he told them and Matsushima shook his head.

"She just chose this agency so she can use whatever connection she has with Ren-san," he tried to argue with the president and he shook his head.

"As I see it, if she wanted to be with Fuwa then there would be no chance that she would make her connection with Ren publicly known. Ren is smart enough to know when someone is using him, I've seen it before. This girl wouldn't be seen with Ren knowing that Fuwa is known to hate Ren's guts. He would hold no interest in that," the president analyzed and Sawara nodded his head in agreement but the other two sighed. They didn't want to argue with Lory but it still looked as if she were using her relationship with Ren to fuel her.

As Kyoko left the stage she thought about the special talent in which she would be showing them. It wouldn't be connected to acting or singing though, she wasn't interested in those areas, she would just be showing them something that she could do and she didn't think any other person auditioning would know," she tapped her bag. Her weapon was still inside as was the daikon that she had bought that morning.

She could still leave a lasting impression on them.

She closed her eyes and took some deep inhales before letting them out. She just had to stay calm. Fortunately, Ren wasn't aware of this. She would hate for Corn to lose faith in her. Hopefully he would never find out about this audition until she started working for the agency. He'd forgive her if she worked hard and took her job seriously. That was just who Corn was.

End of Act 8

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Act 7

H-Nala, Kaname671, kotoko-98, KrisXD, misherukuro, Paulagato, The Real Jackie-O

Author Response

Kuon/Ren is going to have a different kind of reaction to the audition process in this fic but there will be some tension between the two of them. As for Yashiro, because he didn't meet Kyoko in the way that he did in the manga, someone who annoyed Ren but had more acting potential and guts with her fracture, his response follows the same as Kimiko, he's worried about what would happen to Ren's image if he was with someone younger. He doesn't know the difference between Kyoko and Kimiko yet so he's being careful and considerate of Ren which I find very in character personally. He also told Ren that he could ditch Setsu if he was bothered by her in the Heel siblings arc.