AN: Over the last half dozen chapters I've been realizing how slow this fic is moving. I might try to aim for 2500 words per chapter. Now, I said aim. Hope you enjoy.

Act Twenty-Two :: The Final Round

Kyoko looked down as Ren left her. She didn't want for him to get caught up in this crap as well. Since Corn was a fairy, things were probably very different in the fairy kingdom where he had grown up without people lying to him and the human kingdom where everybody lied to get an advantage. As memories of her life flowed through her mind, Kyoko saw a level of hate deepen and se looked up at Ruriko, grinning in a cold manner. She didn't realize how that might be misunderstood as a hate towards Ren.

"Tsuruga-san," Ruriko asked him as she shivered because of the weird aura. "You do want to act alongside with that person."

Ren blinked. It wasn't so much the acting or doing his job with Kyoko that interested him, really any additional time he could spend with Kyoko would be well worth it for him but saying that would allow people to see the holes in their plan and Kyoko didn't want that for them. He didn't want to let her down.

He faked a look of surprise towards the question, wanting to clear all of the emotion from his face. Ruriko continued to drag him.

"Because you are always concerned about her." Ruriko pouted and Ren felt that he had to do something, he laughed softly so that his feelings for Kyoko would be misinterpreted as love for his job. Turning any good emotion into love for his job was one way of hiding the effect that Kyoko had to him.

"You are mistaken," he replied, "this has nothing to do with her. The person I truly want to work with is one who towards her work expects persistency and who bears such an attitude." There, he had secretly chosen Kyoko over Ruriko without Ruriko realizing this. He had also put the president's plan back into action again just with a few lines. Yes, he did want to spend more time with his childhood friend but he also didn't think that premiering this way would be good for her.

Ruriko looked shocked and Ren knew that things were coming together in her head. He knew that she was going to be the one chosen but hopefully in this way, it would be a pleasant working relationship.

…..

…..

As the scene began, Ren took his place kneeling opposite Ruriko. She had her head bowed as she was trying to get into character. She didn't have his experience and especially his experience living every day as somebody else. This meant that he would have to be patient towards her and let her know it was okay to be nervous. As long as he could lead her with his own action, the scene would be worthy of their time.

Ren closed his eyes trying to concentrate on the scene. He was now a character who had never heard of Kyoko Mogami before and didn't believe in the fairy kingdom so he just had to focus on who he was at this moment. He knew he wasn't the inner him so he had to keep that person closed off from the world.

He tried to center himself as he listened to Ruriko's character making the tea for him as her honored guest. Whatever he did, thinking about Kyoko right now was acting suicide and he had given far too much for that to happen.

Then why, even though he was a professional actor, did he wish that she would be the person he would open his eyes and see. What had that woman done to him?

…

…

Kyoko was trying to refuse the words of anyone who might try to convince her not to do the scene with Ren. She wanted to see his acting first hand and though she had to pretend that her goal was revenge against Ruriko, most of it was to make Ren proud of her. He wasn't like other guys – well, he was a fairy – and she wanted him to like her. That was a foolish thought, wasn't it?

"Your injured ankle has to be put into consideration," Yashiro told her, happy that they had met before so that he had realized that Ren cared a lot about her and Ren actually mattered a lot to him despite the distance that Ren put up between himself and everyone else. If Ren could be happy then it would be something that would improve his work.

Kyoko looked to Yashiro with a smile, "I'm all right," she told him.

Yashiro paused and looked at her concerned, "But," he began but Kyoko tried to wave away his concern and she continued to smile as elegantly as she appeared in this outfit.

"I'm really all right," Kyoko attempted to assure him giving Yashiro another momentary pause to consider. "So, please do not be concerned." Kyoko's smile increased, spreading out over her whole face now. "It is okay. I will not give up even if it is a bone fracture because…" Kyoko's face turned cold again as ideas of winning and revenge took her over, it was as if she had lost control of it, "even if it is a fracture, a cure can also still be found."

Yashiro was taken aback by her laughter. He felt uneasy that this was the type of girl that Ren had been attracted to but when she wasn't like this, she was sweet and smart and Ren always loved a girl with guts. In fact, most of the people that Ren respected the most had guts. This girl might be getting too close to Ren for Yashiro's comfort.

…..

…

Ren closed his eyes again as he heard the director yell out another cut. He knew that he was doing some of his best work so he wasn't worried about that. What he was worried was that he wasn't leading Ruriko to the conclusion of the scene and he knew that he couldn't be blamed for that. He listened to the harsh words that Seiji said again as well as laughter from one of the crew members that she had insulted since her arrival.

"Cut! Ruriko, you are missing some of your lines! Don't stare at Ren until you forget yourself!" he called out and Ren paused. He closed his eyes again unsure how he should be reacting to that. His expression remained a neutral and he heard Seiji sigh, getting a little irritated by the scene that was playing before him.

"Forget it. Let's move on to Kyoko next! Come and get ready."

Ren finally looked at Kyoko who was a mix of nervous and excited. He had hoped that she would change her mind on doing the scene since it would put an incredible amount of strain on her injury. He would be carrying her around if it were not that people would misunderstand his intentions. He didn't want her to be pulled into this where she could do some serious harm. He wanted to do what was best for her.

Ruriko looked at Kyoko in shock, still feeling that she had more energy that she could give to the scene.

Kyoko moved forward, the shock showing on her face as she approached the set. This was the defining moment of her day and it was also the first time that she would be facing Ren as an actor. She was really excited to see the skills that he had developed. "Okay," she said eagerly.

As she stood though, the pain in her foot was too much and she felt that this was going to be torture but sometimes it was worth enduring pain to get to the end result and this felt like one of those situations. Kyoko saw that Ruriko was talking to the director and she made her way over to him, feeling the pressure in her feet but she was determined to not let herself fail. After all of the sacrifices that she had made for Shotaro, she knew that she possessed an inner strength that others didn't.

"Ruriko-chan," Kyoko said with a warm and seemingly-friendly smile, "Please look carefully," she said and Ruriko paled as she turned to her. Kyoko could sense the fear from her prey, this was usually the time to attack but Kyoko would try another method to bring her down. "I will work hard to complete the mission given to Love Me," she announced and Ruriko looked at her slowly.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a pause as her eyes tried to take in Kyoko, this girl was a lot scarier than Ruriko had originally believed that any girl could be.

"Come on," Kyoko said with an even bigger smile, "You've forgotten? My job" she said and Ruriko continued to stare at her not knowing what to make of this kind of behavior. "I have said that I will protect Ruriko-chan and not let you be exposed to the sun. So, even if it is a place in show-biz where you will not be exposed to the sun at all. I will make sure that you will get there."

Ruriko froze. By the sun was she speaking about her entrance into the acting world where the media would love her. That was the sun for an idol like her and an actor for Tsuruga Ren. Was she really implying that she would be kept in the darkness and trapped in obscurity. No. That couldn't be right. How could this girl, who had never been part of show business, say something like that to her with so much confidence? It wouldn't happen, would it?

Ruriko stepped forwards, "What? Are you saying that you will make me stay in your shadows and not get any attention? Stop joking. Since it is like this then snatch this chance to work on this movie from my hands if you have capability. Only then can you come and boast when you get to debut."

Once, this was said, Kyoko returned with a very determined and superior look that showed that, at least in her eyes, she outranked Ruriko in nearly every single way. Ruriko had a sharp inhale and took a step back. Not many people could have the confidence that Kyoko had put into her smug and satisfied smile and Ren had to admit that he felt she was strong enough to be okay even if she wasn't victorious. She was a worthy challenger.

If Ren were to guess then he'd definitely say that the confidence within Kyoko was because of her past. She had been brought up in a ryokan where she had known things like the tea ceremony but she still wasn't fully grasping what acting was. Acting was a combined feeling of experiencing something that didn't exist, the thoughts and sensations that the character knew. Yes, having background knowledge helped but it wasn't acting. Well, Ren was interested in how successful Kyoko would be. This was going to be her chance to prove that to him.

…

…

Ren stared at his friend as she was on her hands and knees. She was in a lot of pain and as much as he wanted to yell at her and tell her to stop being stupid, he knew that if he caused a scene that she wouldn't forgive him for that. She needed everyone around her to see her as strong, she had always needed that.

Ren sighed, bowing his head, "Seriously," he began, "I'm totally defeated by your perseverance, but, if you have to act using this position then you have no chance of winning. This is not something you can just say and go ahead to do, right?"

Kyoko frowned at him before closing her eyes. She knew he was trying to help her but she needed to prove her worth and this time she didn't need for him to get involved, with him becoming involved there might be some people getting the wrong idea and she didn't want to expose Corn's true fairy nature.

Ren could hear the director talking to himself, worrying about what Kyoko was going through and part of Ren wanted to wring his neck for this. Kyoko was suffering and he was using that suffering to his advantage and Kyoko was too stubborn to see this for herself. Ren definitely didn't want to be the bad guy and he knew that he had to carry on to the end but this wasn't worth Kyoko getting hurt.

Kyoko felt the intense pain in her ankle, sweat making its way down her cheeks but she wasn't going to give up. She had learned about how to bring about the inner peace years ago when she was a child and she hadn't had a mother who would just make everything better. Whether the pain in her heart or in her body, it was no different.

She thought about how she had to keep a smile on her face until the guest left and that she had to ignore pains in her body to give the best experience at the ryokan. This was just the same as that apart from now Corn was with her and Corn would catch her if she fell.

She could do it again just like when she was a child.

Right now she wasn't facing Corn as Ren Tsuruga, she was facing him as his character, a guest at a traditional Japanese inn. She just had to believe in it enough for it to be real.

"Action!"

End of Act 22

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Act 21

EmmaLasagna, Guest, H-Nala, Kaname671, KrisXD, kyoandyuya, misherukuro, paulagato,

Author Note

First of all, thanks for all of the support

Secondly, for those still doing your shopping for the holidays here's a tip on how not to be hated by retail workers 😊 A customer I was helping today told me that she wanted some of Item X because her daughter had broken one, I showed her but she wasn't sure if it was Item X in Size A or Size B. She said that she would have to bring her daughter in on Christmas to check. I laughed and said, oh this weekend then, we'll still be having our sale. It turns out she actually meant Christmas Day. She thought that we were going to keep the store open on Christmas Day and thought it was unfair that we were closed so that she couldn't go shopping with her family on the afternoon of Christmas Day.

So, quick tip for the holidays. Don't expect for any store to be open on Christmas. Retail workers are as entitled to enjoying their holidays as you are 😊 Thank you and happy holidays