AN: Hopefully this is okay. I had something sad happen to me to do with my job so I hope my writing isn't affected .
Act 10 – Like a Daruma
Kyoko had been preparing Corn a soup as he entered the shared apartment and she was going to sprinkle some flower petals on top. She smiled as she saw him enter the apartment and bowed to him, going to meet him. "Welcome home," she told him and saw him grin.
"I'm home," he replied and Kyoko smiled but saw the curious look on his face. Had something happened today? Was it right to ask about it? She was still feeling defeated after failing the audition and not getting chosen but she was trying to mask that disappointment in herself. If she showed it then Ren would ask her what was wrong and she might blurt out about the audition so that he wouldn't get worried. It was better if she didn't say anything.
"How was your day?" he asked her as if expecting something and Kyoko smiled.
"It was fine," she said feeling that she shouldn't be smiling but nobody really questioned smiles. "I made some soup and…"
"Is there anything that you'd like to tell me about your day?" he asked. He tilted his head to the side, looking at her more carefully. He wanted to know the truth about the audition. He wasn't going to get annoyed if she said that she tried out because of him despite him not wanting her to put a guy first anymore. Maybe it was only certain guys who he should worry about.
"I can't think of anything," Kyoko said nervously and Ren blinked.
"Really? You can't think of anything out of the ordinary that you did today?" he asked her and Kyoko shifted uncomfortably. He was speaking in pretty vague terms. Did he know about the audition? No. Of course he didn't because she hadn't really told anyone that he knew about it…unless…
"No, nothing," she said and Ren frowned.
"Maria told me about the audition," he told her and Kyoko's mouth dropped open, she shifted again. "I don't think Maria meant any harm in telling me if it was a secret between the two of you. I'm surprised but I'm not angry. I take it that you didn't pass but if you train there's still the one six months from now," he smiled and Kyoko looked at him weakly.
"No, I…I didn't pass," she said and Ren sighed.
"It takes a lot of practice to get through the audition in the first place. People have been training for years for that. I mean, there are some people who have dreams of being an actor or singer when they are three or four years old and have built their lives around that goal, I wouldn't be so worried about not being as good as one of them," he told her. He was attempting to comfort her but Kyoko still felt a little strange about it. Maria must not have told him the reason for her wanting to enter show business.
"Yeah," she said weakly, "Did you pass your audition?" she asked and Ren shook his head.
"I'm a special case, I didn't have to pass an audition," he told her, "Hopefully that doesn't make my work look inferior. I'm one of those people who knew they wanted to be an actor at a young age and tried to build my life around it, I made quite a few sacrifices for it."
"They have drama and acting in the fairy world?" Kyoko asked as her eyes lit up wanting to know more about this.
Ren paused. He was hesitant to continue this lie but he still nodded, "The dramatic arts are even more flashy and exciting in…fairyland," he said and Kyoko grinned. "But I felt that because of my father's influence, I was getting picked for things that I wasn't ready for and so I wanted to come here because it felt a little easier," he lied but he saw that Kyoko was buying it.
"So why did you want to go and try out as a talent," he asked her and Kyoko nervously shifted.
"I don't know," Kyoko said automatically.
"You don't know?" Ren asked as he raised an eyebrow, "Hopefully it wasn't to get closer to me. I wouldn't want that, I mean, you should be making decisions and choices because you want to make them not because anybody else does. I hope you don't think that I'm pushing you to join LME."
"No, I don't think you're pushing me," Kyoko said quickly so that she didn't disappoint him. "You're not the one that I auditioned because of…" she paled. She had more or less told him her secret.
"I'm not the one?" he asked before coming closer and Kyoko felt uncomfortable. It was as if he was trying to read her and use ESP or something like that. "Then who is the person that you auditioned because of?" he asked and Kyoko felt that she was caught.
"I…well I wanted…umm," she bowed her head and closed her eyes so she couldn't see his expression. "I wanted to get revenge on Shotaro and I thought that this was the best way to do it, to become more famous than him. I did it out of revenge."
There was a cold chill and Kyoko closed her eyes even more, she had a really bad feeling about this. "You did it out of revenge?" he asked and Kyoko nodded nervously. She was expecting for him to say something that would cut her deeply but instead, he turned to her without saying a word and went into his bedroom leaving Kyoko standing there.
He was really angry, wasn't he?
…..
…..
Corn had gone to bed early the previous night and he had left before she woke up that morning. She should have had more tact and not told him what she was doing but it was fair right, all was fair in love and war and she could act as a talent to get revenge because it didn't really involve Corn. She didn't want to tell him that one of the reasons that she failed was because her imagination had come up with a story about somebody hurting him and taking advantage of him. That wasn't as important as his opinion of her, especially since he had acted so kindly.
Still, she had to go and return the knife to Taisho and so she had woken up as soon as the restaurant was opening. This was Taisho's precious knife and at least it had moved her a little further in the audition process then she might have been without it. She sighed before seeing the Okami-san coming out to greet her.
"Kyoko-chan," she said happily, "Good morning. What brings you here so early, I thought that you had the evening shift."
"I came back to return this," Kyoko told her as she held the knife, "And to thank Taisho for allowing me to borrow it for the audition. I'm sorry that I didn't actually make it, I guess I'm not cut out to do that type of thing."
Okami-san sighed, "There are often stumbling blocks but come inside, I'll get you breakfast," she said and Kyoko shook her head. She didn't want to impose on them. Okami came closer to her, "Kyoko-chan, I thought that you'd want to return the knife in person, it would be no trouble to get you breakfast, you're always welcome here."
"Okami-san," Kyoko bowed, "Thank you for your warm hospitality. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to change my residence, something happened with the apartment and I had to move. I know the personal files have my address listed so I need to update that."
"Something happened with your apartment?" Okami-san asked nervously, "Have you found somewhere else to live. We have an extra room if you need somewhere to rent, of course the rent would be very cheap because of how hard you work for us," she said and Kyoko paused. It was wrong to accept their offer, right? After all, they weren't family and at least Corn was her childhood friend. Then again, Corn had been incredibly angry with her the night before.
"I've found somewhere temporarily," she told her before bowing again, "May I please consider the offer?" she asked and Okami-san nodded before guiding her inside and having her sit at a table.
"I'll bring over the food when it's ready," she said and Kyoko paused. She looked around. Somehow the restaurant felt like she was home. This wasn't the type of feeling that she got with Corn's place although she was excited to be living with him. She closed her eyes. She didn't want him to hate her. She wanted only good memories with Corn but maybe she had lost her chance with him.
As she sat there, the Taisho came over to her and handed her a Japanese breakfast bento. He sat opposite her. "You didn't pass it?" he asked and Kyoko stood up, she bowed quickly.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I borrowed something very precious to you and then I was unable to pass the audition which was the reason why I borrowed your precious knife. I'm sorry." She said and the Taisho looked at her.
"Apologies waste energy," he said and Kyoko's eyes widened nervously. Was he angry? Those words sounded like he was expressing his anger? She panicked. She hadn't wanted for him to hate her. "Try again."
"I don't think I can," Kyoko admitted sadly, she dropped her head and Taisho gave a hum in response. He stood up, "I'm sorry," Kyoko whispered, "I guess I've lost heart."
Taisho walked away and Kyoko assumed it was to return his knife to where he kept it. She picked up her chopsticks and was about to eat when the Taisho returned. As Kyoko saw that he was back, she sat up in her seat with an even straighter back and watched him. Was he going to fire her?
"This," he said as he set a Daruma in front of her and Kyoko blinked, "Is you," he said and Kyoko stared at the red figure. The Taisho pushed it over and then it sprang back up. He pushed it again for the same result. "Now you get up and try again," he reminded her.
Kyoko blinked at the figure before smiling, she nodded excitedly. Those were the words that she had wanted to hear, she had wanted to be told that she could do it if only she gave it another try. It was worth another try.
She smiled as she picked up the Daruma and bowed with a smile now on her face, "Thank you," she told him and he nodded before allowing her to finish her food. Kyoko looked up at the two of them. Would accepting the room really be such a bad idea? She didn't want to fail Corn and she didn't want to see the look of disappointment on his face ever again.
…
…
Kyoko stood facing the LME building. It might be hopeless but she could start as a maintenance worker and work her way up as a star. All she needed was to get her foot in the door. She looked around. She might not be able to get into the front of the building but there was a side entrance. She could sneak through there. The risk came that she didn't know if Ren was going to be there or not. She took a deep breath not knowing that Ren was watching her out of an upper floor window.
"Ren?" Yashiro said, "You should come," he advised. Ren turned to him. "Is something out there?" he asked before seeing Kyoko pacing.
"I'm really curious on what she's going to do," he commented and Yashiro nodded. If Ren was curious then he was even more curious what his childhood friend would do.
End of Act 10
Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated
Thank you to the reviewers of Act 9
Ashenvale, Guest, H-Nala,a Kaname671, Kris XD, misherukuro, MWEH, paulagato, The Real Jackie-O, Umiron
Author Response:
I'm really glad that people are enjoying this story. I did change Yashiro because of the reviews, people didn't think he was in character so I tried to add some of the Yashiro character that people wanted. This fic is actually my most updated right now so it only has 11 chapters but there are others which haven't been updated since September.