AN: I'm battling a cold right now so this had to come out a little later in the day today but I really hope that you enjoy it 😊

Act 14: Fairy Tales Aren't Realities

"I'm sorry," Yashiro said as he came over to Ren who was looking out at where some birds were in their nest, the mother bird was just feeding them lunch and Ren loved observing these true beauties of nature. Birds could have some sort of freedom that he lacked. All a bird had to think about was whether they should try to fly or whether it was okay to fall. "It seems we won't be able to shoot today either"

"I figured," Ren commented before looking away. "I thought that this girl was better than this, from what I've heard from others she took pride in her music when she was a new star and now there's something that needs to be customized for her?" Ren sighed, "It really does make me feel sick."

"And I suppose you're not going to use such words for her when she does come," Yashiro said and Ren gave a gentleman's smile.

"Of course not," he replied and Yashiro raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment on it. Ren paused before sighing and dropping his head, "There is something that I really do need to say to somebody though. I need to be honest and that might be a little harder than I thought that it would be. I don't want to break her heart."

"Kyoko's heart?" Yashiro asked and Ren nodded. "And this is a girl that you're definitely not interested in dating."

"I'm definitely not interested in dating her," Ren repeated as he took a sip from his water bottle. "We're just friends, I'm trying to make that clear to you. Kyoko and I are just friends."

"And there's something very close between, you know friends and friendlier," Yashiro teased him and Ren was about to respond before both of them had their attention drawn towards Seishi Shinkai, the director of the shoot.

"I am so sorry for this, Ren," he said and then nodded to Yashiro as he included him too. "Will you be ready for the president's secret plan that starts tomorrow. Apparently whatever she is customizing, whatever teenage girls need to customize, is going to be finished by that time. You know, it's professionals like you who give me hope for this business."

"And because you recognize that professionalism, I feel even more respect for you," Ren said with a smile and Seishi laughed before pushing his hair back. He was incredibly stressed by this idol and her appearance in this drama. This man had worked with divas before but this girl was more than that. They needed something to motivate her and it would take more than a carrot on a stick or even Ren to push her in the right direction.

…

…..

Kyoko was finishing with the final section of the floor when she heard a loud thump and then the sound of a coffee cup rolling across the floor. She turned to look behind her at where one of the office workers had fallen. She froze, before hearing a skid and a young woman banged onto the ground.

Something had happened, she had done something or there was something that had gone wrong. She tried to think over her actions. All she had done was to try to get the hallway clean and to have any honored guests applaud her hard work even if she wasn't there to see it. They should be giving her extra points now and with those extra points she could make a better debut than the one that Shotoro had had.

Kyoko tried to steady herself before seeing another man falling down and then it was as if circus music was playing in Kyoko's head as one after another more office workers came crashing down onto the floor. She could hear people talking about their injuries and that the hallway was cursed. She hadn't meant to cause anyone any harm. She had wanted to impress the head of the music section but she didn't want for people to get hurt.

She froze before hearing a disappointed hum behind her and nervously turned to see Nakazawa-san. The department head put two fingers on his temple and sighed heavily. Kyoko looked to him and saw him call to an intern.

"Can we get a wet floor sign put here," he asked and the intern quickly nodded and moved away.

Kyoko gave a weak and very apologetic smile to the department head and closed her eyes, dropping down into a bow. "I am deeply sorry," she said as he looked around at the mess that she had caused. He understood what the president had been saying, she was able to think of how to do things better but for a different motivation than that which would advance her in life.

Nakazawa sighed and, when there were more people to help the injured workers, ushered her into his office.

"Thanks to you doing things you shouldn't have, so many people got injured. You couldn't even think of this?" he asked looking at her and trying to control his frustration. He shook his head as he tried to maintain his temper. She was just a teenager and one whom the president was keeping an eye on. He didn't want to cause her to have too much heartbreak, he was part of the president's team after all, he believed in love through music.

He sighed as Kyoko kept her head bowed, "If you had put yourself in the shoes of those who will pass this hallway, this incident would never have happened." Nakazawa sighed as he took her stamp book from her and put a plus ten stamp in it. He sighed and handed it back to her, his voice heavy. "You, from the looks of it, still can't figure out the purpose of Love Me Section."

…..

…..

Kyoko sighed as she sat looking at her book on the staircase at LME. She didn't want to show this to Ren and disappoint him. If Corn had had to do this assignment it would be filled with 100 point stamps because fairies were very good people and of course, Corn would have done amazing work. No, this book was an embarrassment to Corn.

She sighed, she had put in all her hard work and it was just for ten points. She could have at least been given a little more. Ten points did feel rather stingy especially with the time she had wasted. Yes, people did get hurt but they should have been more careful. They should have been able to see her cleaning and taken another route. Yes, it was those other people who were in the wrong.

Kyoko sighed and dropped her head, "Ten points is still a bit too strict, plus the minus ten points Kamio-san gave earlier. After the deduction, it's equal to zero, making me feel like I've not started work at all." She sighed. That was great for a first day, no movement. She blinked. It could have been far worse than this. She hadn't gained many points but she wasn't in the negative any longer, she'd just have to keep working hard and continue to push and motivate herself.

She could do a job that wouldn't bring trouble to others and would still make people want to only use the highest point stamps. It was a second chance and she would take it. She was determined to go forth into the next day wor-

Someone kicked her. What the hell!? Kyoko turned around, who the heck would be kicking her!?

Kyoko turned back to see a young idol of around her own age. She was wearing a fashionable jacket, skirt, and leopard print shirt. Kyoko frowned she knew this woman from somewhere, one of the projects that Shotaro had worked on. She blinked before looking at her with a professional smile.

"You are Ruriko Matsunai-chan!" Kyoko said with her eyes wide.

Ruriko raised her head and looked down upon Kyoko with a feeling of superiority over her, "That's right," she told her, "I'm Ruriko Matsunai-chan," she grinned and closed her eyes, crossing her arms casually. "I am LME's Japan's Last Superstar Idol."

Kyoko looked at her curiously. That felt like a really strange thing to say. It was as if she were claiming that after her nobody would ever be skilled enough to take the name superstar. No. Even if she did die, there would have to be other actors who could take her place as Japan's national actress and Kyoo even felt that she could fill that spot one day. Oh, no. She didn't really care about acting though and she would never dare to say that to Corn.

"This is so similar to the president's method of doing things," Ruriko laughed as she cast her eyes down as if pitying Kyoko. "I'm referring to the establishment of Love Me section. You are the legendary Love Me Section member?" she giggled and Kyoko felt her body tense as she listened to those words.

"Good timing," Ruriko grinned, her eyes cold and staring into Kyoko's. "I can ask you to help me with something."

…

….

Kyoko had been briefed a little on what her assignment would be for the following day but she was more excited because she felt that Ruriko was a rich young lady in disguise, someone who would have a key to a secret garden in which they could play. Maybe Ruriko was actually a princess. She giggled to herself as she thought about that possibility and then heard the key in the lock.

She got up before going to the front door to welcome Corn in and to take his coat.

"I'm home," he grinned to her and Kyoko nodded.

"Welcome home," she said and Ren laughed as he looked around and saw another salad with flower petals on the table. He should really tell her the truth but he hoped that she wouldn't take it as him having bullied her.

"Did you have a good day?" he asked and Kyoko looked at the book that she had tried to hide from him. She didn't want to have him give that look of disappointment when he only found out she had barely made any progress with her stamps.

"I…I learned some more about the Love Me section," she told him and Kuon smiled, he was about to question that but caught himself at Kyoko's next words. "And I met a princess," she told him and Ren stared at her with wide eyes. What did she just say?

"You saw a princess?" he asked slowly. He wasn't sure whether to tell her the unlikeliness of her actually meeting a proper princess because she still believed that he was a fairy and he wanted to work on that angle a little more before he told her the truth about him being an American. "I don't think that's possible," he said slowly.

"Of course it's possible," Kyoko smiled, "I already know a prince."

"Yeah…" Ren said awkwardly, feeling guilty that he had been lying to her. He couldn't believe that she would just rashly decide to believe somebody else. He watched her as she grinned to him with childlike excitement. "Uh…are you sure?"

"Well, I'm not quite sure, she didn't tell me she was but the mission that she's asked me to do for her makes me believe that she's a princess in disguise who I must lay down my life to protect," Kyoko said and Ren's jaw dropped. Just what had this so-called princess talked her into? Was now the time to confess that he wasn't a fairy and that she shouldn't believe things written for children.

Maybe he could just try and find out what she had been talked into before telling her the truth.

End of Act 14

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Act 13

H-Nala, Kaname671, kotoko-98, KrisXD, Musherukuro, MWEH, PaulaGaTo

Author Response:

Kyoko may have fallen for him but he has been lying to her so that's going to cause her to hesitate on her emotions. There are a lot of parts of the manga that I like that other people would think as minor so I'm glad I included one of your favorite parts. Thank you for all your support.