AN: First of all Happy New Year, may you all have good luck with your new year resolutions. Secondly, this chapter is a little shorter than I want to aim for but I liked the ending point. Also, I'm going to try to only update my other fics three times a month this year but to do it in bulk. I hope that you all continue to support me and the fics that you enjoy 😊

Act 27 – Kanae Kotonami

Ren looked out of the window sadly as he awoke the next morning. He had loved being able to work opposite Kyoko but the window of time when it was still acceptable to tell her that he had lied to her was drawing to a close, soon it would be even more unacceptable that he was carrying around this hurtful lie. He didn't want to tell Yashiro because that would expose a weakness in the friendship that he and Kyoko shared.

He had to carry these feelings alone and despite how much she would most likely hate him, he had to sacrifice their friendship in order to continue his dream and return to his parents. "I am so sorry," he whispered as he bowed his head.

He had wanted another friend but it was dangerous to keep people close to him and he knew what could happen were they too close. He took a look aside and remembered Kyoko's smiling face. He wanted her to be happy and to find her true self. He just wasn't the right person to guide her to do that.

…

…

Kyoko sighed as she looked at the pictures that she had put up in the bedroom after Ren had told her that it was okay. One was a picture of Ren that she had put good luck charms around and then there was a picture of Shotaro that she had put bad luck charms around. To the untrained eye both looked very similar with one of the major differences being the colors of the items. Kyoko hoped that Ren wouldn't see these things. Corn might not understand black magic as all Kyoko had was an immature idea of what kind of magic existed in the world. Still, she could explain it to him, right?

Kyoko looked at the picture of Shotaro and her eyes narrowed as she felt the anger fill her chest, "The ability to smile so haughtily will soon be gone," she said as she growled at the picture that she had put up of him. She didn't want for him to exert his power over her. It was important that she kept her ground.

She looked up with an eager face. Corn was going to help her, he was so much better than Shotaro and so she would never say these words against him but she could use as much help as he was willing to give to her. She looked at the poster of Shotaro, "The next time I'll make you see my excellent acting performance! Until then, I'll use my acting skills to play around with you and also smash your dream of being a superstar."

She took deep breaths before turning to the picture of Ren. She hoped that Corn would be okay. She didn't know how much he had come to learn about the human world and it was very important that he keep his smile and his magic even if he couldn't use his magic. She didn't want anything bad to come to him.

The words that he had tried to say previously repeated in her head but she refused to accept them. She went over to a shelf where she had a good luck and good health doll of Ren that she had made and a voodoo doll of Shotaro. Again, other than the thread and items inside they looked very similar.

She studied the picture of Ren as she held the doll in her hands. If he were human would she care? Well, he had made a sacrifice to become human but if he had always been human. He was a kind person, generous and caring and he hadn't done anything bad to her. He had allowed her to live in his apartment, had given her a cell phone, had arranged for her school to be taken care of. Well, if he had always been a human and not a fairy then maybe it would work but she wanted an explanation of who he was. If he was unable to do that then she couldn't trust him and if she ever lost trust in him she might not be able to forgive him.

Still, first of all she had to destroy Shotaro and make sure that only his parents cared about him. That was what was most important for her day. Ren wouldn't be back and so she couldn't listen to him. Her attention had to be on her plans for revenge.

…

…

One amazing thing about being close to Corn had been that he had his ways of making her want to become a better person. He could motivate her in a way that nobody else could and she was thankful that she could be his friend. He had made her see that maybe if she worked hard to be an actress that she could find a world for herself that she enjoyed and that she could see herself in a new light. That was important to her.

She had picked up one of the brochures on the acting classes in LME. It was an amazing agency and so they must have amazing classes. As she used her crutch to support her weight, she looked through the book.

"LME actually has a remedial class like this?" she asked as she saw something that would be perfect for her. "It's divided into Tokyo daytime section and night time sections. One year equals four hours, three times a week. It's Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday Saturday with no age limit." She continued to read aloud despite knowing that saying this might draw people's attention towards her. She was just excited and wanted to be able to swallow all of this information.

"Voice practice, classical ballet, dancing, Japanese dance, martial arts, action courses, training arrangements," she hummed. Had Corn gone through a class like this? Corn always seemed to be able to do everything with grace and amazing precision and ability. He must know all of these things and maybe he even knew all of them without being enrolled in a class. She could understand that he would be able to because of his magic.

"The goal of the training is to enable the highest standard of acting performance no matter the location and preset it to the audience."

Kyoko's eyes snapped open. This was an amazing opportunity. She would be able to both work to impress Corn and work to take her revenge on Shotaro. By committing herself to such a thing she would have all the abilities that she needed to be the best star in Japan. She could start with the basics and create a version of herself who was able to compete against Corn. That would be more than fun, it would be like a gift.

Her eyes then caught hold of some of the negatives about this class. "However, I think I still have to sit for exams to get into this training class, interview practice acting. What is practice acting? Actual acting in from of them?" She sighed feeling that she was a novice and so this class didn't actually make a lot of sense. She was still trying to discover acting and hone her skills. She hadn't made it through the auditions because she was still new but she wanted to learn. This seemed impossible.

"In the end I'm tested on my acting for the exams. Isn't this a contradiction? How could I possibly act out a performance that will be satisfactory to the judges. This couldn't be purposely looking for trouble?" She growled feeling angrier as she read this. She was a beginner and wanted to take a course where she could learn about acting. She wasn't ready to just give up but she didn't know how she could pass an audition without more acting experience.

She froze as she saw something even uglier. She couldn't believe it and she would feel too guilty to ask Ren for help. Corn was already providing her with so much and there was no chance of her making this type of money from the Darumaya.

Although there were no exam feeds, the school entrance fee was 120,000 yen and the tuition was another 360,000 yen. In American dollars that came out to about four and a half thousand dollars. It was much too hefty a price for someone of her ability to have to deal with. She scanned the page again.

"This clearly states there is no age limit," she said feeling a little dizzy and she didn't think it was her ankle that was causing her to feel these emotions, "but to swindle 480,000 yen out of me, one who relies on their friend to go to high school and is a pitiful minor? That's a little too greedy."

She scowled at the page before announcing in a loud voice. "Seriously! Enemy of the commoner, totally unforgiveable." She paused as she heard an echo of her voice and blinked to look to the side. She froze as she saw the girl from the auditions. She had won against her, hadn't she? Kyoko stared at her. She was talented enough to win and people had said that she was the judges' favorite but if that was the case why was she reading through the same brochure.

"Ah, it's you," she said in shock as she pointed at the brunette and then saw the girl have a shocked expression of her own. Of course, that girl had thought that she would fail with absolutely no talent. She most definitely hadn't been expecting her to pop up here.

"Why did you show up here at LME!" the girl said angrily and Kyoko felt herself growl as the girl obviously looked at her with contempt. "Explain it clearly," she demanded and Kyoko's eyes widened, her face turned pale. This girl didn't think much of her. If she told her the truth then the girl would laugh on the floor and she would feel even more embarrassed.

Kyoko looked ahead of her as if she were stuck in a traumatic experience, "That…that is," she said nervously before looking at the same booklet that the girl was holding. Why would she need something like that if she had already been accepted by the agency? Wouldn't they have explained everything, set her up with a manager?

Kyoko slowed her breathing, "Anyway, didn't you pass the second round and you should have joined LME acting division earlier on. So how come you're holding this now?" she asked and the girl looked at her as if Kyoko had exposed a gigantic weakness.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she held tight to the brochure, "Th-This is…to not understand fully the office one belongs to is a very embarrassing thing," she tried to explain.

Kyoko paused as she watched her. It didn't seem that that was the real reason but that reason did make some amount of sense. This girl was someone who would want to learn everything she could, she also had the ability to memorize things with the skill of a photographic memory.

As Kyoko stood with the girl she heard a voice from behind them and saw Matsushima-san from the acting department approaching them. He had a wide smile over his face and was extra energetic today. He came over to them quickly and Kyoko saw the other girl feel a little bit on edge.

"Ah! Kotonami-san!" he called after her, "After yesterday's section explanatory meeting, I saw you leave with a look of unhappiness and I was worried that you won't be coming, but it's a good thing you came. It's really great," he told her and Kyoko looked between them curiously. Why would this girl decline to be part of the acting section? Obviously she was talented but wouldn't she just follow her dreams. "Because you're very talented, I believe that as long as you can overcome this stumbling block, you can debut very fast. Work hard!"

Kyoko blinked hard and then the world seemed to slow down as Matsushima-san placed a hand on Kotonami-san's shoulder. "From today onwards," he announced, "You're a member of the Love Me section."

Kyoko's eyes widened as she looked ahead of her. She couldn't believe this.

What was happening?

End of Act 27

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Act 26

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, misherukuro, MWEH, paulagato,

Author Response

I'm glad that you guys enjoyed the added scene. Sadly it's not going to come easy to the two of them but she will forgive him eventually. Thank you for all of your support.